IBRAHIM TRAORÉ ON FOOD SOVEREIGNTY!
Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré recently visited students in the rural commune of Bagré. They are students of a state-led initiative known as the Technology Incubator Project. They work on agro-silvo-pastoralism, a form of production that combines pastoralism and agriculture in lightly forested areas. The government supplies seeds, water pump wells, and other resources. So far, the students have grown tomatoes, potatoes, wheat and onions.
Traoré has emphasised food sovereignty since the September 2022 military coup that ousted a Western-aligned leader. Burkina Faso imports 11 per cent of food, according to the collective data of the World Bank compiled by tradingeconomics.com. The Ivory Coast, the United States and France account for the most food exports by dollars into the country. The US Agency for International Development says agriculture generates one-third of Burkina Faso’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). About 20 per cent of the population is food insecure, while approximately 50 per cent of rural households are not producing enough food for themselves.
