Increasing rice production in the Boucle du Mouhoun region: The inhabitants of the Ouarkoye commune are hard at work transporting rubble to protect the dikes needed to control water in the commune’s lowlands.

This agricultural campaign, the Consortium Solidar Suisse-SOS-Sahel International in partnership with OCADES-Dédougou aim to improve rice production in the Boucle du Mouhoun region. To achieve this, it is planned to develop a rice-growing lowland of the PAFR rice-growing lowland with a surface area of 31.63 hectares in the Ouarkoye commune. In order to promote good rice growth, dikes are to be built following the contour lines (DCN) and fitted with draining openings, to dominate a water level of 10 to 20 cm upstream. The construction of the dikes will be carried out by the beneficiaries in the form of high labor intensity (HIMO).

Transport of the rubble is already underway and more than 50% of the rubble has been transported to the lowland. This rice development is part of the implementation of the project “Strengthening the community resilience of agroforestry households in the Boucle du Mouhoun and Nord regions (RESICOM)”. . The ultimate aim is to improve producers’ income by increasing rice production.

As a reminder, there are 253 beneficiaries of this development, made up of landowners, former operators of the site, vulnerable households and internally displaced persons (IDPs). This approach promotes social cohesion in the management of natural resources. The project is financed by theDanish Embassy in Burkina Faso. On April 21, 2022, a team from Solidar Suisse and OCADES-Dédougou went to see how the rubble used to protect the dikes was being collected.