Burkina Faso agriculture facing the COVID-19 crisis: the case of the Yatenga and Hauts-Bassins regions

L'agriculture burkinabè face à la crise de la Covid-19: cas des régions du Yatenga et des Hauts-Bassins

Patrick Dugué (), Edmond N. Kohio and Justin Tiemtoré
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Patrick Dugué: UMR Innovation - Innovation et Développement dans l'Agriculture et l'Alimentation - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Justin Tiemtoré: APROS - Association pour les OEuvres Sociales

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Abstract: At the beginning of the health crisis due to COVID-19 some observers alerted the decision makers of a possible food crisis in the coming months in West Africa. In order to feed this debate, we conducted a study by interviewing 75 actors of the agricultural sector in two regions of Burkina Faso − the Yatenga and the High Basins. In both situations, farmers and pastoralists were able to continue their activities, but some experienced marketing difficulties. Market gardeners and tree growers have been the most affected by this crisis because of difficulties in selling their perishable products on West African markets. Livestock farmers were less affected by the drop in prices, but traders of live livestock also encountered difficulties exporting to coastal countries. Finally, cotton companies have had to face a drop in the international price of cotton fiber and cotton producers will have to face a drop in the purchase price of seed cotton at the end of 2020. Despite this crisis, Burkina Faso's agriculture has continued to fully play its nurturing role thanks to the mobilization of farmers, traders and transporters, even though it is showing weaknesses due to its heavy dependence on external markets for, among other things, vegetables, livestock, cotton, mangoes, cashew nuts and agricultural and livestock inputs. This crisis is an opportunity to consider areas for intervention to make Burkina Faso's agriculture less dependent on external markets and imported factors of production. This implies the substitution of imported food products by local products and an agro-ecological transition to reduce the importation of synthetic inputs.

Keywords: Burkina Faso; économie agricole; crise économique; pandémie; covid-19; enquête sur les exploitations agricoles; marketing; secteur agricole; marché des produits de base; Health crisis; COVID-19; Family farming; Commercialization; crise sanitaire; Crise alimentaire (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05177332v1
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Published in Cahiers Agricultures, 2021, 30, pp.16. ⟨10.1051/cagri/2021002⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05177332

DOI: 10.1051/cagri/2021002

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