‘I came to Nigeria to see what is common and different between the Nigeria and Burkina’ Faso agriculture, so that we will see if there is room for exchange …’

Ouedraogo Inoussa is the director of LAVODEC (Entrepec agricole) and President de L’union Nationale des Cooperatives des Entrepreneurs Agricole du Burkina’Faso, and Alhaji Yakubu Mishelia Debiro, MD Debiro Farms

Ouedraogo Inoussa is the director of LAVODEC (Entrepec agricole) and President de L’union Nationale des Cooperatives des Entrepreneurs Agricole du Burkina’Faso. He was in Nigeria to buy ginger and also see how his country could benefit from Nigeria and vice versa especially in cooperative related matters. In this interview he tells how cooperative administration is structured in Burkina Faso. Excerpts…

What is the difference between the Burkina’ Faso Cooperative and the Nigerian Cooperative towards Agricultural Development?

Our cooperative is a one dynamic cooperative and we work as one association, in the month of January, we had a special meeting to organize how the year is going to be, and we also work together, and as the president of the organization, I will compile what my cooperative has discussed, which will be forwarded to the government, after which the government deliberate on and approve to help fast track agricultural development in Burkina’ Faso. So, visiting Nigeria I cannot compare our own agriculture with that of Nigeria, because I don’t know how the agriculture in Nigeria is faring yet, but I can assure you that our agriculture and cooperative in Burkina Faso is very organized, so I cannot say yet what is working yet, here in Nigeria, it will take time before I will be able to compare. Although I have also visited the minister of agriculture and noticed that you have tractors here in Nigeria that can be useful for us in Burkina’ Faso, I have made request for them,  so I’m waiting to know how we can get them, because it will help boost our agriculture too.  

Is your visitation to compare notes, to Nigeria?

My visit to Nigeria is a partnership visit with Debiro, we are in need of ginger in our county, so my coming is as a result to see how we can acquire 2500 tons of ginger and to also see what is common and different between the Nigeria and Burkina’ Faso agriculture, so that we will see if there is room for exchange of information and what is needed here in Nigeria and what is need in Burkina’ Faso.

What are the things discussed by your farmers during your cooperative meeting, that will be presented to your government in this year’s budget as regards agriculture and are you involved in budget planning for the country?

For this year we have held meetings amongst us, as cooperative members, we are yet to finalize on our findings at the meeting before we present it to our government, and the key discussions during our meetings, are looking at what we need, what is the need of our population, what is working in our agriculture, and also things we need from the government as a cooperative to improve agriculture in our country. We also discussed issues as regards to seeds, fertilizers, and other necessary inputs, which I will say is the focus of our meeting.

How is government support in Burkina’ Faso, do government obey the Maputo Declaration of 10% of the annual budget of the nation in supporting agriculture?

Really our government has always been helping us, but not as perfect to as reaching all our needs, yes to a large extent, the government has tried, because 80% of the population of Burkina’ Faso are into agriculture, so we don’t really  expect the government to invest all in agriculture as there are other areas for the country to invest in, for example, the government has recently invested 9billion Cefa for fertilizer and 4billion Cefa too for equipment, and other things needed to boost the country’s agricultural yield for the year.

How will you describe the way your cooperative is structured in your country?

Our cooperatives are organized from the bottom to the top, and we operate 45 provinces as regions in Burkina’ Faso. We do not have states and each of the provinces, have their own organization of agriculture, and we have 13 regions and each of the regions has its own agriculture organizations that compose from the provinces. From t he 13 regions we have a top that has the president that coordinates, and I am the president.

What is your advice for cooperative associations in Nigeria?

In terms of population, we know that Nigeria is bigger than Burkina’ Faso- Burkina’ Faso is a very small country, our purpose is to have  international association from all countries in Africa, to associate and to find out what agriculture needs generally to improve in their works, creating a platform for exchange of ideas among the countries.

How does the government of Burkina’ Faso handle youth agriculture, and the cooperative, is it inclusive of the youths and the aged?

Yes am a youth and again the cooperative was not established by government, I started the cooperative very young with few youths and later having many youths joining us. I currently have 2,000 people in the cooperative working under me with seriousness, which attracted our government to be sustaining us. And for me to be the president they saw how young and devoted I was to the work, which is fast attracting a lot of youths to the business of agriculture and the cooperation.