NEWS
Burkina Faso and IFAD to boost
rural productivity and smallholder farmer incomes
A
new project targeting 57,000 of
Burkina Faso’s most vulnerable
smallholder farmer households
will be launched 23 November in
Ouagadougou, and will help toward
improving food security and incomes
in the Boucle du Mouhoun, Cascades
and Hauts Bassins Regions.
The Agricultural Value Chain Promotion
Support Project (PAPFA) will be
presented at a workshop organized
by the Government of Burkina Faso
(GoBF) and IFAD. Sommanogo
Koutou, Minister for Animal Resources
and Minister for Agriculture and Water
Resources ad interim and Lisandro
Martin, Regional Director of IFAD’s West
and Central Africa Division, will open the
workshop, which will involve smallholder
farmers, government officials,
development partners and IFAD staff.
Among the major challenges facing
Burkina Faso in the coming decade
is modernization of the agricultural
sector, both as a means to drive the
transformation of the national economy
and to bring about strong, sustainable
and inclusive growth. By developing
four agricultural value chains – rice,
vegetables, sesame and cowpea –
PAPFA will contribute to achieving this
objective. In particular, it will improve
smallholder farmers’ productivity,
4 |November - December 2018
support value addition processing
and promote entrepreneurship to spur
growth in rural areas. organizations engaged in production,
processing and marketing, but also
agro-entrepreneurs.
The total cost of the new project
is US$71.7 million, including a
$19 million loan and a $19 million
grant under the debt sustainability
framework from IFAD. PAPFA will
be cofinanced by the OPEC Fund
for International Development
($20 million), the Government of
Burkina Faso ($6.4 million) and the
beneficiaries themselves ($7.3 million). About 27,500 households will receive
production support, 27,000 will be
assisted in setting up or consolidating
rural microenterprises and 2,500
will be supported in value chain
development. PAPFA aims to ensure
that at least 50 per cent of the
project’s participants are women and
30 per cent are young people.
“PAPFA is well-aligned with Burkina
Faso’s National Economic and Social
Development Plan, which aims to
boost the economy and create jobs,”
said Jacob Ouédraogo, Burkina Faso’s
Minister for Agriculture and Water
Resources. “With the support of the
IFAD, we intend to sustainably reduce
poverty and stimulate economic growth
for the benefit of rural populations.”
PAPFA builds on the gains made
by previous projects, such as the
Agricultural Commodity Value
Chain Support Project, the Rural
Business Services Development
Project, Neer-Tamba and the
Agricultural Diversification and Market
Development Project. It targets not
only smallholder farmers and their
“To develop agriculture and make it
sustainable, scaling up our impactful
investments is key. We designed
PAPFA based on lessons learned from
other IFAD-funded projects including
those from Burkina Faso,” said Martin.
“The project will help create decent
jobs for women and young people
and support the development of rural
enterprises along the four value chains.
We consider agriculture as a business.”
Since 1981, IFAD has financed 14
rural development programmes and
projects in Burkina Faso at a total
cost of $548.4 million, with an IFAD
investment of $276.7 million. These
projects have directly benefited
563,200 rural households.