In the village of pourra, livestock breeders and farmers peacefully share the pastoral borehole.
Conflicts linked to the exploitation of natural resources are sometimes exacerbated by the arrival and cohabitation of IDPs, due in part to pressure on natural resources and land. In rural areas, the lack of grazing areas is often the cause of conflict between farmers and herders, as animals destroy fields. To reduce the risk of conflicts linked to the exploitation of shared natural resources, the RESICOM project has created 21 pastoral boreholes, 6 livestock vaccination parks, 85 hectares of grazing areas and, for the first time in its intervention zone, introduced the cultivation of pennisetum purpureum, commonly known as “Maralfalfa”, a high-yield forage plant with high food potential. Testimonies gathered from the beneficiaries of these infrastructures reflect a peaceful management that improves relations between farmers and stockbreeders.
“I’m Moussa SANGARE, president of the management committee for the vaccination park set up by the RESICOM project in the village of KAMAKO. This park has come as a relief to us breeders. With no vaccination park in the village, we were forced to travel 05 to 10 kilometers to have our animals vaccinated. Given the distance covered, our animals would cause damage in the fields along the way, and this was a source of misunderstanding with the farmers. Now that we have a vaccination park nearby, our animals are vaccinated regularly and we no longer have any conflicts with farmers due to damage caused by the animals in the fields.”
Gnami BICABA, “The RESICOM project has facilitated my livestock breeding activity. Firstly, I received support and assistance in setting up a 0.5 hectare Maralfalfa field. What’s more, the creation of the vaccination park facilitates the health care of my animals. Before, without the vaccination pen, the animals were vaccinated in the traditional way by tying their horns with a tree, which often caused injuries to the animals. The availability of the vaccination park on site in Kamako and the fodder field I have at my disposal means that I don’t have to deal with the conflicts I used to have with farmers due to damage caused by my animals in search of fodder or when travelling to other neighbouring villages for vaccination purposes.”
Gnami BICABA, in his “Maralfalfa” forage field
Gnami BICABA, met at the Kamako vaccination park to have his oxen vaccinated.
Reminder: “The populations of the project’s intervention regions live in an environment of peace and social cohesion thanks to concerted management of shared resources, intra/inter-community dialogue and the strengthening of local governance”, is one of the specific objectives of the RESICOM project. The project is financed by the Embassy of Denmark and managed by the Solidar Suisse-SOS SAHEL International Burkina Faso Consortium in collaboration with the Secrétariat Exécutif Diocésain Dédougou de l’Organisation Catholique pour le Développement et la Solidarité (OCADES-Dédougou), the Fédération des Professionnels Agricoles du Burkina (FEPAB-Yatenga) and the Association Wendkouni (Boulsa), local partners. It will run from July 01, 2021 to December 31, 2025.
