A clip report on participatory organic farming in Burkina for healthy and accessible food

Burkina-Faso is one of the most active countries in organic production in West Africa, but:

• organic production mainly concerned shea, sesame, cashew, cotton and some fruits and was intended for export
• Organic certification was carried out by international third parties
• the almost non-existent consumption of organic products locally

This is why this SPG (Participatory Guarantee System) was created. It is a locally oriented quality assurance system which certifies producers on the basis of active participation of the stakeholders and is built on a basis of trust, networks and knowledge exchange.

See the video below:

What is the interest of a Participatory Guarantee System?

• It reduces costs compared to an international third-party certification
• It makes it possible to create its own operation, and not that imposed by a third party, within the framework of co-construction of the standard between the actors of a value chain (quality, price, distribution, promotion ...)
• It allows technical learning between producers on soil regeneration, biocontrol, cultural associations, production planning
• Its recognition by Burkinabè law leads to a solid guarantee of conformity framed by a public standard and official procedures which build trust with local consumers
• It allows to promote and ensure the promotion of local products and know-how for better opportunities and access to the market

What are the future challenges?

• Increase the number of producers and consumers to cover all regions of Burkina-Faso
• Carry out more training for producers for better technical control of production
• Decentralize the action of CNABio for increased proximity to producers and consumers
• Develop recognition of the Label with the other countries of the sub-region through UEMOA or ECOWAS