WT/CFMC/W/66  
15 October 2015  
(15-5423)  Page: 1/8  
 Original: French  
 
  DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK MECHANISM ON COTTON 
COTTON PROJECTS 
Communication from Burkina Faso 
The following communication, dated 21 Septembe r 2015, is being circulated at the request 
of the delegation of Burkina Faso.  
_______________ 
  
The Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso is subm itting the projects below with a view to 
receiving technical and financial assistance from the cotton sector development partners under the 
Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton. 
 
1  PRESENTATION OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF COTTON PRODUCERS OF BURKINA FASO 
(UNPCB) 
1.1  Creation 
1.1.  The National Union of Cotton Producers of Burkina Faso (UNPCB) was created on 
15 April 1998 by the Provincial Unions of Cotton Pr oducers (UPPC) that endorsed the Articles of 
Association. It is governed by Law No. 014/99/AN of 15 April 1999 on the regulation of cooperatives and groupings in Burkina Faso. 
1.2  Structure 
1.2.  The UNPCB has a bottom up structure and comprises four statutory bodies: 
a. the General Assembly (AG), composed of thre e representatives appointed by each of the 
28 member Provincial Unions; 
b. the Management Board (CG), composed  of ten members elected by the 
General Assembly. Members of the Management Board have the status of director; 
c. the Steering Committee (CC), composed of three members elected by the 
General Assembly; 
d. the specialized commissions, of which ther e are two: one responsible for managing 
inputs and credit, and the other responsible for external relations. Each of the 
commissions has three members. WT/CFMC/W/66 
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY
(3 delegates per province)
UPPC UPPC UPPC UPPCProvincial 
Level
UDPC UDPC UDPC
GPCGPC GPCB…. UDPC UDPC UDPCManagement Board (10 members )Specialized Commissions :
Input Management (3 members)
External Relations (3 members)Steering Committee
(3 members)
Mulitdisciplinary Technical Team
At headquarters:: Management, support staff
In the field: IPG, CZ, CG, ATB
Departmental
LevelNational Level
GrassroolsLevelGPC
WT/CFMC/W/66 
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  1.3.  The UNPCB is made up of: 
a. 9,023 cotton producers associations (GPCs); 
b. 194 organic cotton producer groups (GPCBs); 
c. 177 departments structured into Departmental Unions; 
d. 28 provinces structured into Provincial Unions; 
e. 350,000 farms. 
1.3  Mission 
1.4.  Inter alia , to represent the cotton producers vis-à-vis the other stakeholders and to 
participate in the co-management of the sect or, while promoting the growth of cotton and 
associated food crops. 
1.4  Values 
1.5.  The conviction that agriculture in Burkina Faso can become a true vocation and that unity, 
solidarity and responsibility will enable the producers to take upon themselves the development of their agriculture. 
1.5  Services to members 
1.6.  These services are provided through three main functions: 
a. the trade union function, chiefly involving the defence of the socio-economic interests of 
members; 
b. the economic function: supply of cereal inpu ts, cattle feed, agricultural equipment and 
operational/storage equipment, including the storehouses and head offices; 
c. the support/advisory function through the cotton producers organizations' Financial 
Management Council (COGES), the Family Farming Council (CEF) and support for 
organic/fair-trade cotton production; and 
d. the promotion of functional literacy through the Literacy and Farm Management 
Programme (PAGEA). 
1.6  Technical team 
1.7.  The UNPCB Management Council, in accordance with the Union's Articles of Association, 
recruited a technical team to help it to carry out the duties entrusted to it by the UNPCB General 
Assembly. There are now 189 permanent staff, distributed as follows: 
a. at headquarters: 35 staff members, 21 of them administrative; 
b. in the two branch offices (Fada and Ouagadougou): five staff members; 
c. in the field: 150 staff members: 
 organic cotton programme: 45 organic cotton specialists and five organic cotton area 
managers; 
 producers organizations' Financial Management Council: 16 management inspectors 
(IPG) and 84 financial management advisors for the Cotton Producers Organizations (OPC). WT/CFMC/W/66 
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  1.7  Profile of UNPCB staff 
1.8.  The staff is made up of agronomists, sociologists, economists, accountants, human resources 
management specialists, procurement specialists, internal and external auditors, senior agricultural technicians, support staff, etc. 
2  REMINDER OF THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN AND HOW IT RELATES TO THE AREAS COVERED 
BY THE FUND 
2.1  Rationale for UNPCB intervention 
2.1.  The rationale behind UNPCB's intervention is explained in its Five-Year Strategic Plan 
2014-2018. It is this document that serves as a guideline for all of the actions undertaken by the UNPCB during the period. 
2.2.  This rationale for intervention, as updated in the Five-Year Strategic Plan 2014-2018, calls for 
a sustainable improvement in the income and living  standards of cotton producers in Burkina Faso 
(specific objective) and for an effort to speed up the growth and sustainable socio-economic development of the rural sector (overall objective) in conformity with the national policy guidelines 
drawn up in the framework of the Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development Strategy 
(SCADD) and the National Rural Sector Programme (PNSR). 
2.3.  The UNPCB's vision for 2014-2018 can be descried as follows: "Professionalized Burkina Faso 
cotton producers ensuring food security and improv ing their income through efficient, sustainable, 
safe and resilient production systems grouped toge ther under a Union of Cooperatives capable of 
defending their interests at the sectoral level as well as the national, regional and international levels". 
2.4.  The three targeted results have been defined in relation to the functions mentioned earlier: 
a. Trade union function – Result 1: The cotton producers are to be represented effectively 
and their social and economic interests defended; 
b. Support/advisory function – Result 2: The capacities of producers and Cotton Producer 
Organizations (OPC) are to be strengthened; 
c. Economic function - Result 3: The needs of producers and OPCs in relation to the 
conduct of their economic activities are to be met. 
2.5.  The potential areas to be financed by the fund specifically include the UNPCB's 
support/advisory and economic functions. 
3  PROJECT PROPOSALS 
3.1.  A number of projects have been identified under Burkina Faso's five-year strategic plan. 
Implementation of these projects will undoubtedly  contribute to achieving the five-year plan's 
intended results. The projects listed below are designed to achieve results 2 and 3 mentioned 
above. 
3.2.  Contribution to achieving result 2 of the five-year strategic plan: Strengthening the capacity 
of producers and OPCs; in particular, activity 2.6 of the strategic plan's log frame: run an 
integrated management programme on soil fertility and the development of innovative and 
sustainable production techniques. 
3.1  Funding component concerned: management and preservation of natural resources 
3.3.  Project title: Integrated management progra mme on soil fertility and the 
development of innovative and su stainable production techniques . WT/CFMC/W/66 
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  3.4.  For the past few years, cotton production yields have been stagnating in the cotton growing 
areas. One way to counter this fall in productivity is to restore the fertility of the plots, for instance by suppling organic matter. The techniques identifi ed for agricultural extension under the strategy 
for sustainable management of soil fertility are the production of organic fertilizers, and erosion 
protection measures, namely water and soil conservation (CES) and soil preservation and 
restoration (DRS). 
3.2  Training producers in sustaina ble management of soil fertility 
3.5.  The training topics which have been identified concern the production of organic fertilizer and 
erosion protection techniques (CRD/DRS). 
3.6.  Training activities will extend to all of the pr ovinces of the cotton growing area, and training 
courses for producers will be combined with the building of fertilizer and compost trenches and 
erosion protection works (stone barriers, ridging, grass strips, etc.). 
3.7.  Training will cover organic fertilizer production techniques available to producers (windrow 
composting, trench composting, improved penning, etc.), as well as the use of the A-frame level, 
stone setting techniques, gully control techniques , methods for determining the distance between 
ridges, and techniques for building cross ties. For producers in the provinces, the equipment kits needed for digging fertilizer trenches and for erosion protection works will be funded. 
3.8.  The recipients will be distributed as follows: 
a. Production of organic fertilizer: 200 prod ucers per provincial union, i.e. for the 
28 member provinces, 5,600 producers. 
b. CES/DRS works: 100 producers per provincial union, i.e. for the 28 member provinces, 
2,800 producers, covering an area of 100 ha per provincial union, or a total of 2,800 ha. 
3.3  Supply of subsidized equipment for the prod uction of organic fertilizers and for the 
CES/DRS works 
3.9.  In order to ensure that the training is carried out properly, it is essential that producers 
continue to be supported with equipment to produce organic fertilizers and to carry out the erosion protection work. 
3.10.  65% of this equipment will be subsidized, each one of the beneficiaries contributing 35%. To 
the that end, two types of kit, comprising different equipment, have been identified: 
a. Kit for the production of organic fertilizer: shovel, pick, pitchfork, watering can, cart, 
Burkina phosphate, compost plus activator; 
b. Kit for the CES/DRS work: A-frame level, pick, gloves, etc. 
3.11.  Contribution to achieving Result 3 of the UNPCB's five-year strategic plan: satisfying the 
needs of producers and OPCs in relation to the conduct of their economic activities, particularly in 
respect of activity 3.3: contributing to the building of infrastructure for collective use and the 
purchase of individual and collective equipment. 
3.12.  Funding component concerned: design, planni ng and implementation of the required 
infrastructure projects intended exclusively for the storage, conservation and transport of cotton, 
of seeds and of inputs such as fertilizers. 
3.13.  Project title: Development of infrastructure for the Cotton Producers Organizations 
(OPC) . 
3.14.  The selected infrastructure is made up of wa rehouses, OPC offices which will be used as 
training rooms, and silos. The project also call s for the building of rural tracks in the cotton 
growing areas. WT/CFMC/W/66 
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  3.3.1  Warehouses, offices, silos 
3.15.  The plan is to build 1,000 warehouses (OPC for better management of inputs), 100 UDPC 
offices to be used as training rooms, and 3,000 silos (for improved crop management in a context of climate change). 
3.16.  The advantage of these facilities is that they will contribute to the management of cotton 
inputs, thereby reinforcing the structural framew ork of the OPCs, while helping to preserve the 
quality of seed cotton in the silos and to implement the training programmes for the OPCs. 
3.17.  65% of the costs of developing this infrastruc ture will be funded by the project, leaving 
35% for the beneficiaries. 
3.3.2  Rural tracks 
3.18.  3,000 km of rural tracks will have to be built  in the cotton growing areas. These tracks will 
be fully funded by the project. Their purpose is to  facilitate the transport of the producers and their 
products from one locality to another. Consequently, they will contribute (directly and indirectly) to the development of the beneficiary localities while at the same time helping to move the seed 
cotton produced to the processing plants. The UNPCB and is agencies will identify the priorities in 
this respect according to need. 
3.4  Contribution to the cross-cutting go al of promoting cotton Burkina Faso 
3.5  Funding component concerned: promotion of the use of cotton 
3.19.  Project title: Promotion of the use of Faso Dan Fa ni cloth by creating uniforms for 
primary school pupils . 
3.20.  In Burkina Faso, uniforms are essentially mandatory for primary schools all the way up to 
college level. 
3.21.  Faso Dan Fani is a handwoven cotton cloth. The promotion of its use is aimed to encourage 
the local processing of Burkina Faso cotton. It should be noted that Faso Dan Fani is ideal both 
during the hot periods and the cool periods. 
3.22.  The value chain looks as follows: 
a. Seed cotton from cotton producers  cotton fibre from the ginning plants  production 
of cotton yarn by the Filature du Sahel  (FILSHA)  use of the yarn by weavers in its 
natural state or dyed by dyers before weaving  finally, production of the uniform using 
the cotton fabric. 
3.23.  Partnerships will thus be developed with associations involved in the production of yarn and 
cloth made of Burkina Faso cotton. 
3.24.  The end users of these uniforms will be primar y school pupils. This choice was determined 
by the desire to make children aware from the ou tset of the importance and value of Burkina Faso 
cotton. This awareness will remain with them until th ey are adults and will inevitably contribute to 
enhancing the status of Burkina Faso cotton. 20 schools in Ouagadougou and 20 schools in 
Bobo Dioulasso will be concerned. 
3.25.  The colours and design of the uniforms will be  decided upon by the UNPCB in cooperation 
with the representatives of the schools concerned. WT/CFMC/W/66 
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  3.6  Budget estimates 
 Unit Quantity Cost per 
unit 
 
 
CFAF Project 
contribution 
 
 
CFAF Contribution 
by the 
beneficiary 
 
CFAF Total cost  
 
 
 
CFAF 
TRAINING IN 
ORGANIC FERTILIZER PRODUCTION 
TECHNIQUES       
Support for local 
trainers (28 trainers x 
3 days x 10 centres) FF 840 5,000  4,200,000   4,200,000  
Transport costs for 
local trainers  280 5,000  1,400,000   1,400,000  
Support for the 
beneficiaries 
(5,600 persons x 3 
days) FF 5,600 7,500  4,200,000   42,000,000  
Transport costs for beneficiaries  5,600 5,000  28,000,000   28,000,000  
Purchase of training 
materials (3 bags of 
BP x 10 x 28)  6,000 8,000  48,000,000   48,000,000  
Subtotal 1    123,600,000  - 123,600,000  
TRAINING IN 
CES/DRS 
TECHNIQUES       
Support for local trainers (28 persons x 3 days x 5)  420 5,000  2,100,000   2,100,000  
Transport costs for 
local trainers  140 5,000  700,000   700,000  
Support for the beneficiaries (2800 persons x 3 days)  2,800 7,500  21,000,000   21,000,000  
Transport costs for 
beneficiaries  2,800 5,000  14,000,000   14,000,000  
Purchase of training materials (1 kit (=A-frame level + rope) x 5 x 28) kit
 140 35,000  4,900,000   4,900,000  
Development of 
erosion protection 
sites ha 2,800 200,000  560,000,000   560,000,000  
Subtotal 2    602,700,000  - 602,700,000  
EQUIPMEN T       
Cart  5,600 225,000  819,000,000  441,000,000 1,260,000,000  
Wheelbarrow  5,600 50,000  182,000,000  98,000,000 280,000,000  
Shovel  5,600 4,000  14,560,000  7,840,000 22,400,000  
Pick  5,600 4,000  14,560,000  7,840,000 22,400,000  
Rake  5,600 4,000  14,560,000  7,840,000 22,400,000  
Pitchfor k  5,600 4,000  14,560,000  7,840,000 22,400,000  
A-frame level  280 20,000  3,640,000  1,960,000 5,600,000  
Hamme r  280 15,000  2,730,000  1,470,000 4,200,000  
50 m rope  280 15,000  2,730,000  1,470,000 4,200,000  
Subtotal 3    1,068,340,000  575,260,000 1,643,600,000  
Overall total 
fertility    1,794,640,000  575,260,000 2,369,900,000  
       WT/CFMC/W/66 
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   Unit Quantity Cost per 
unit 
 
 
CFAF Project 
contribution 
 
 
CFAF Contribution 
by the 
beneficiary 
 
CFAF Total cost  
 
 
 
CFAF 
Building of infrastructure for the Cotton Producers Organizations (OPC) 
(a) Storehouses, 
offices, silos       
Construction of 
storehouses       
GPC storehouse 9.00m x 
6.00m 500 5,720,000  1,859,000,000  1,001,000,000 2,860,000,000  
UDPC/UPPC storehouse 14.00m 
x 7.00m 100 9,240,000
 600,600,000  323,400,000 924,000,000  
Small storehouses 5.2m x 
7.2m 
(30 
panels) 100 2,706,000  175,890,000  94,710,000 270,600,000  
Construction of UDPC 
office office 50 8,000,000  260,000,000  140,000,000 400,000,000  
Construction of silos 
for the GPCs silo 2,000 2,000,000  2,600,000,000  1,400,000,000 4,000,000,000  
(b) Rural tracks    - -  
Development of rural 
tracks Km 3,000 1,000,000  3,000,000,000  - 3,000,000,000  
Overall total 
fertility    8,495,490,000  2,959,110,000 11,454,600,000  
Promotion of Faso Dan Fani by making uniforms for primary school pupils 
Identification of cotton producers and 
processors       
Selection of schools 
(29 in Ouagagoudou 
and 20 in 
Bobo Dioulasso) schools      
Support for the promotion of Faso Dan Fani schools 40 2,000,000
 2,000,000  - 80,000,000  
Overall total 
fertility    2,000,000  - 80,000,000  
MANAGEMENT OF FUNDING 
UNPCB administrative 
and financial 
management costs: 
staff, missions, 
vehicle maintenance, 
office operating costs, 
etc. FF FF 50,000,000  50,000,000   50,000,000  
Purchase of a vehicle Vehicle 3 50,000,000  150,000,000   150,000,000  
Overall total fertility      150,000,000  
TOTAL    10,292,130,000  3,534,370,000 14,054,500,000  
 
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