Cereals: Burkina Faso wants to boost its wheat production | www.newsdirectory3.com – INTEGRATION

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Wheat is, along with rice, one of the main import cereals in West Africa. If overall, the region does not meet the optimal natural conditions for the cultivation of grass, several countries are trying somehow to stimulate their production. In Burkina Faso, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal and Fishery Resources signed a financing agreement on March 17 with the Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA) relating to the production of wheat seeds. The announcement was made in a statement posted on the Ministry’s Facebook page.

With a total cost of 113.2 million CFA francs ($184,653), this agreement should allow, according to the authorities, to relaunch the production of the cereal with a view to reducing imports which cover almost all the consumption needs of the country.

As part of this new partnership, INERA researchers are committed to initially making 10 tonnes of seeds available to the Ministry of Agriculture for the benefit of farmers.

“This is a first for the Regional Directorate of the Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Research. We have never benefited from such commitment and support for twenty years, otherwise we would be out of reach of the shortage that we have experienced in recent times”, declared Jacob Sanou, regional director of research and innovation in the Hauts-Bassins.

According to the authorities, 50 varieties of soft wheat and 49 varieties of durum wheat for making couscous are already being tested in the commune of Farakoba in the Hauts-Bassins region. It should be remembered that Burkina Faso had already tried several times to produce wheat, but the projects initiated by the executive so far did not last.

The last experiment dates back to the 2005/2006 season during which the country officially produced 2,000 tonnes of the cereal as part of a pilot project implemented over an area of ​​500 hectares in the Sourou valley.

For now, the country, which consumes around 315,000 tonnes of wheat a year, is mainly supplied by France and Russia, which both account for nearly 95% of shipments, according to data compiled on the Trade Map platform. (Ecofin Agency)