CSOs Call for Building Sustainable Food Systems in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso, like other countries, took part in the United Nations Summit on Food Systems in September 2021. The objective of this meeting was to help shape a common vision of sustainable food systems. Civil society organizations had actively participated in the preparation of this summit, particularly through the national consultations initiated by the then Prime Minister.

The analysis of the food systems had then allowed to note, in spite of the potentialities of the country, that they did not allow to ensure the food and nutritional security of the Burkinabe population. This is mainly due to the fact that Burkina Faso is highly dependent on the international market, as well as to population growth and urban concentration, which leads to rapid growth, the low level of education of the population, which does not allow them to adopt innovative farming systems, poorly developed food processing, and poor food quality caused by the anarchic use of pesticides.

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CSOs intend to continue discussions with the Prime Minister for the concretization of the commitments

The national consultations, conducted around national policies and the dynamics of production, processing, fortification, conservation, and marketing, have made it possible to identify national ways to build sustainable food systems.

According to Souleymane Yougbaré of the National Council for Agroecology, who delivered the introductory statement, the main commitments made by both sides, are essentially about the constitutionalization of the right to a healthy, diversified, and balanced diet, the promotion of agro-ecological practices on at least 30% of the sown areas by 2040, the allocation of 1% of the national budget to research and 10% exclusively to investments in the agricultural sector. In addition, there is support for food processing, transport, storage, and marketing.

As these various commitments are slow to be implemented through concrete actions, CSOs intend to continue discussions with the Prime Minister for their concretization, to adopt the national strategy for the development of agroecology, and to get more involved for a better follow-up of the commitments.

According to Marc Gansonré, Secretary General of the Confédération Paysanne du Faso, this media event will help draw the attention of governments to a common problem, which is to provide the population with sufficient food in quantity and quality. “To reverse the trend, we must have the courage to have a willingness to move forward, as well as policies and coherent directions that can lead to this harmonious development that we need … Nowadays we do not need very large areas to make production, we need to make intensification that can be done with a set of technical and technological packages, “he added.

Rethinking food systems to make them more efficient and in line with the food needs of the population is the expectation of civil society organizations.

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(Featured image by ambrosewatanda via Pixabay)

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First published in lefaso.net, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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