Ouagadougou – The Burkinabè government initiated two substantial agricultural projects on Tuesday, with a combined budget of 75 billion CFA francs over five years, aimed at enhancing food and nutritional security for a wide reach of the population.

According to Burkina Information Agency, the Minister Delegate in charge of Animal Resources, the projects, named the Integrated Development of Corn, Soya, Poultry and Fish Value Chains and Resilience Project (PIMSAR) and Project 2 of the Program for Strengthening Resilience to Food and Nutritional Insecurity in the Sahel (P2-P2RS), are co-financed by the Burkinabe State and the African Development Bank (AfDB). During the launch event in Ouagadougou, Dicko detailed that these initiatives would directly impact approximately 155,000 agricultural households and benefit an additional 986,746 individuals indirectly.

The indirect beneficiaries include at least 50% women and young people, alongside around 7,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs). These projects align with the 2023-2025 agropastoral and fisheries offensive, initiated last August by the government to reduce dependency on imported consumer goods and create decent job opportunities.

Dicko encouraged the rural communities to engage actively with these initiatives. “We call on the rural world to take ownership of these projects and to get involved so that we can have good results on the ground and build structuring infrastructures for substantial agricultural production,” he stated.

Daniel N’doye, the AfDB country representative, underscored the alignment of these projects with Burkina Faso’s agricultural priorities and the bank’s operational goal of enhancing food production and security in the region. “These two projects are indeed perfectly consistent with the vision of the AfDB, particularly the operational priority which consists of feeding Africa,” N’doye remarked.