Using insects to prevent the millet head miner caterpillar, one of the main pests of millet in the Sahel. This is the experience of researchers and farmers in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.

Young people from different backgrounds and from different countries met to be skilled in sustainable agriculture.

Over the past three decades, West African and Sahel countries have seen their populations double. Almost half live in cities. As a result, food crises are becoming increasingly complex and multifaceted. Situations aggravated by the growing influence of global markets and increased pressures of climate change on agricultural activities. To adapt to these profound transformations… Read more »

In 2018, 3 Kenyan women founded Exotic EPZ Ltd, a company that processes and exports nuts, coffee and oils. The objective of the three women entrepreneurs, Charity Ndegwa, Jane Maigua, and Louise Maina was not only to establish a business that would be profitable, but also one that can support women and smallholder farmers and… Read more »

Faïçal PALENFO, engineer in animal production offers economic and effective incubators of different capacities to poultry farmers. According to Faïçal, hatching of eggs is an area which is not much developed in Burkina Faso. The objectives of his company, Faso Elevage, is to develop this sector by proposing different types of incubators and breeders that… Read more »

In Burkina Faso, just as in the other Sahelian countries, transhumance is essential for the survival of pastoralists, as much as rainfall is for farmers. Traditionally, pastoralists sent scouts in search of water and pastures while farmers observed phenomena in the wild to predict rainfall. With the consequences of climate change, traditional methods are becoming… Read more »

In Côte d’Ivoire, INVESTIV, a technological start-up specialised in precision agriculture, has raised a fund of USD 400,000 to develop its services. In 2017, just after his studies at the University of Laval in Canada, Aboubacar Karim returned to his home country, Côte d’Ivoire, where he created INVESTIV. Since then, the company has mapped and… Read more »

For six years, the Dryland Development Programme, DryDev, worked with communities in six dryland areas of Burkina Faso to help move from subsistence agriculture to sustainable rural development. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and implemented by World Agroforestry, through its partners, SNV and Tree Aid, the DryDev programme has worked… Read more »

A couple, Marius and Nina YARO, graduates in agricultural economics make the production of onion in the rainy season a real business. For Marius and Nina, working as public servant only is not enough to help them realise their dream of constructing a house. Investing in off-season onion production is a way for them to… Read more »

Working in butchery for almost 30 years, Aboulaye BALIMA, known as Young Balima, is modernising his business. Abdoulaye is the founder of Yasmine Butchery. He followed the footsteps of his parents who were also in the butchery business. For him, the quality of the meat is very important for the taste, but also for the… Read more »

On 17 and 18 April 2019, the regional Conference on Geodata for Water and Agriculture was held in Ouagadougou, on the theme: “IT services and geo-spatial data in the field of climate-smart agriculture: digitalisation to increase business opportunities and entrepreneurship of youth and women”. Organised by the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the… Read more »

In Burkina Faso, less than 20% of agro-sylvo-pastoral products are processed. This low level of processing not only increases the risk of post-harvest losses, but limits income opportunities for local stakeholders. To address this issue, the Drylands Development Programme (DryDev), through its implementing partners, SNV and TreeAid, supported the development of processing activities in various… Read more »

In Burkina Faso, the long dry season rhymes less and less with idleness among farmers. Many are engaged in crop production, which is now one of the main income-generating activities during this period. But without training and lack of resources, many of them are facing difficulties. And the major constraint is the availability of water.… Read more »

In Burkina Faso, land degradation has become a serious threat to sustainable development. Denuded lands represent more than 24% of the total agricultural area. This phenomenon contributes to reducing the useful agricultural land and the level of production, thus plunging many producers into poverty to the point of pushing some towards emigration. Launched in August… Read more »

In Dédougou, in Burkina Faso, a mini-dairy is changing lives of rural women since February 2012. Supported by the Regional Council and maintained by the union of breeders and producers in the region the mini-dairy Soudou Kossam is an answer to women’s empowerment.

From 2nd – 4th May 2019, FARA, in collaboration with YPARD, hosted over 60 youths from 26 African countries at the FARA Secretariat in Accra, Ghana. The objective was to develop a set of guidelines on strategic engagement and capacity development of youth focused on agripreneurship and scaling of technologies for increased productivity. This video… Read more »

In Loumbila, located some 20 km from Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, Euloge Tapsoba is processing corn into different products. Euloge founded his company, ALEPA, in 2007 when he was still a student. At the beginning he was just buying and selling the corn. But later, he realised that he was losing an… Read more »

In Kpomassè, 60 km from Cotonou, Euphrasie DASSOUNDO has set up a processing unit for vegetables. She wants to reduce post-harvest losses. Euphrasie started her company with 30,000 FCFA in 2013, and her main activity was to process tomato into paste. Her first challenge was to get people to accept the product which was quite… Read more »

Faïçal PALENFO is an engineer in animal production. After graduation, he created FASO ELEVAGE, a company specialised in training, monitoring of farms, designing and selling livestock equipment. Faïçal started poultry farming at home and soon realised that it was his passion. Instead of looking for a job, which he planned initially, he decided to formalise… Read more »

Three young people, Fabrice Armand SANDWIDI (General Manager), Siaka TRAORÉ (Technical Director), and Aminata Roselyne OUÉDRAOGO (Sales Director) are leading the largest livestock feed factory in Burkina Faso. SOFAB was created in 2009. It was born from an initiative of farmers organised in cooperative, who asked the support of the Government of Burkina Faso to… Read more »