Burkina Faso: Strengthening Food Safety Standards

In September 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched a new project to strengthen food safety standards to improve the competitiveness of SMEs in the Sahel (SF4S). This three-year project will benefit three countries: Burkina, Senegal, and Niger. The opening ceremony of the project’s technical monitoring committee took place on Monday, June 5th, 2023, in Ouagadougou.

The “Strengthening food safety standards to improve the competitiveness of SMEs in the Sahel (SF4S)” project is designed to boost the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the agri-food sector.

According to Fidel Ilboudo, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industrial Development, Trade, Crafts, and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Burkina Faso is one of the lucky beneficiaries of this regional initiative, alongside Senegal and Niger.

“On behalf of the Minister, I would like to express our satisfaction with this support from the FAO. The aim of this project is to strengthen the food safety system in order to equip SMEs to be more resilient. We are in the process of implementing continental trade, and this raises many issues for our full participation in this African integration. More and more, beyond the dimension of food safety, there is a real concern for our countries, the issue of food safety”, expressed the Secretary General of the Ministry of Industrial Development, Trade, Crafts and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

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For Dr Blaise Ouattara, food safety specialist at the FAO regional office in Accra, this project is justified by the food safety problems experienced on the African continent

“At the project implementation level, we have a technical committee in charge of monitoring implementation activities. We develop programs and terms of reference, and the technical committee is there to provide suggestions, recommendations, and guidance. In terms of objectives, the aim is to assess the ability of SMEs to understand and comply with regulatory food controls. Food control systems will be set up along the value chains of the most marketed priority food products. We will also be looking at the capacity to develop and implement food control and certification standards,” explained Dr. Blaise Ouattara.

Funding for the project is provided by the African Development Bank (ADB).

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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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