# A story of change from Burkina Faso: The national organic farming council (CNABio) impulse change through strengthening collaboration between actors of organic agriculture in Burkina Faso

Aristide Sempore, Lassaya Nikiema, Nomandé Prosper Kola

## ► To cite this version:

Aristide Sempore, Lassaya Nikiema, Nomandé Prosper Kola. A story of change from Burkina Faso: The national organic farming council (CNABio) impulse change through strengthening collaboration between actors of organic agriculture in Burkina Faso. CDAIS International Forum, May 2019, Gembloux, Belgium. CDAIS, 1 p., 2019. [hal-05176772](https://hal.science/hal-05176772v1)

HAL Id: hal-05176772

https://hal.science/hal-05176772v1

Submitted on 22 Jul 2025

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CDAIS

“Today I am more fulfilled because I sell my own production, which I know its quality. Thanks to the income from my sales, I can participate in the costs of schooling of my children. My vegetables are smaller than those of conventional farming that is abundant in the market. And yet, my products are better to eat because they are holy!

Ilboudo Clarisse, farmer, vice-president of the women's group.

“The food weapon is the most lethal weapon ever, so I invite the different agricultural stakeholders and the media to work together for promotion of organic farming which the SPG is the keystone” His Excellency Larlé Naba Tigré, great traditional chiefs, during a workshop organized by the CDAIS project to ensure media coverage of innovation in order to encourage the commitment of political and customary authorities in the promotion of organic agriculture in Burkina Faso.

“Commercialisation is a challenge. This is why the CDAIS project supports CNABio. We need to strengthen our capacities to structure our partner's network and give more visibility to organic agriculture.”

Clémence Samba CDAIS Facilitator for the SPG innovation partnership

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A story of change from Burkina Faso

# The national organic farming council (CNABio) impulse change through strengthening collaboration between actors of organic agriculture in Burkina Faso

Aristide SEMPORE, Lassaya NIKIEMA and Prosper KOLA

March 2019

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## The Bio SPG niche label

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The Bio SPG niche label is carried by the National Council for Organic Agriculture (CNABio), is one of the first national organic labels in West Africa. Organic production and the certification process are innovation systems whose development is supported by the CDAIS project.

The diagnostic workshop held in October 2017 thanks to the CDAIS project was a moment of common reflection for all the actors and was the opportunity for them to identify the establishment of a framework for each component of the SPG as essential elements of the Organic sector in Burkina Faso. In their vision, the stakeholder consultation framework aims to remove barriers to the marketing of organic products and to promote stakeholders.

The diagnostic workshop identified other needs in capacity building such as the creation of partnerships with researchers specialized in organic farming to facilitate the production of useful knowledge as well as the massive training of producers.

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“This networking workshop was of paramount importance because it was a place of exchange and departure of a collaboration with the research which must be fruitful for the interest of the Burkinabe population”.

Clémence Samba CDAIS
Facilitator for the SPG innovation partnership

“The CDAIS project is the first project to target the functional capacities of innovation. And thus the capacity to innovate, to learn and to experiment. The project took care to identify the level of our capabilities in this direction and the need for capacity building. His activities allowed the collective to collaborate better. The example of consultation frameworks allowed to exchange, to know better what facilitates the collaboration.”

René Emmenegger,
Technical Assistant at CNABIO

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## The first organic and ecological products fair in Burkina Faso

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Mayor of Loumbila's

Thanks to the reinforcement of the

capacity to collaborate between actors

enabled by the setting up of the framework

of consultation, the actors were able to

organize the first fair of biological and

ecological products of Burkina Faso on

March 24th and 25th, 2018 in Loumbila

a small commune located in the outskirts

of Ouagadougou capital. The fair had a

resonance at the political level because

experienced the effective involvement

of the first officials of the municipality

in the promotion of organic agricultural

products.

## The participatory guarantee system (PGS) approach

The participatory guarantee system approach is an innovative process for organic labelling that includes many stakeholders in the value chain. This broad base ensures that there is better 'ownership' and thus a greater respect for the standards, characterised by participatory and multi-stakeholder processes.

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## The impacts

Since certification was introduced in 2015, 286 small family farmers and agripreneurs are now labelled organic farmers. Farmers increased the quantity of products by 15% because of the larger number of consumers, farmers and traders have reported a 45% increase in income and living standards. Instead of buying their food at the market, they are able to grow their own and eat better quality vegetables. They can use the extra income they gain to send their children to school, for example. Women are both key agents of change and beneficiaries as they move toward organic farming. For instance, an association of some 30 poor women growing organic vegetable outside of Ouagadougou gained visibility and higher incomes thanks to these farmers' markets and local fairs. They also developed mechanisms to distribute their production to schools. The Ministry of Agriculture has gained awareness on the importance of safe food and of developing organic farming around cities to serve local markets, as well as the importance of agroecology principles for the sustainable development of organic farming.

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“Concerning our association, we had difficulties to set up tree nurseries, thanks to this collaboration between actors of the framework of consultation, we could benefit from the knowledge of BioProtect on the setting up of the tree nurseries. Thanks to the consultation framework, the members of my group have benefited from several training courses and now have a cultural calendar to ensure the availability of products throughout the year.”

Abdoulaye Sanfo, Technical Assistant of the Union des producteurs maraîchers "NANGLOBZANGA" from Loumbila

## Learn to work in collaboration with researchers for scaling-up the BioSPG label

In September 2018, the CDAIS project organized a networking workshop to connect the CNABio actors with those of research in order to reflect on the forms of action research in partnership on the scientific validation of organic inputs developed locally by producers and the production of products. organic seeds. This workshop enabled the setting up of a roadmap involving research actors for the promotion of organic agriculture.

“You have to make organic farming a major economic lever. For this it is necessary to reach a partnership, a synergy between the world of research and producers to get things done. What will impact on people's health, their economies and their wealth.”

Georges YAMEOGO, Coordinator of the CDAIS project during the networking workshop

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LA RECHERCHE AGRONOMIQUE POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT

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MESRSI

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