It’s official. The Promotion des Pratiques Agroécologiques et de Valorisation des Productions Agricoles (RILGRE) project has been launched in Kaya in the Centre-Nord region. The launch workshop on November 30, 2023 provided an opportunity to learn more about the project and its innovative approaches. The RILGRE project is being implemented by the Solidar Suisse consortium and the Beo-Neeré Agroecology Association, with funding from the Kingdom of Belgium through the Belgian development agency Enabel. The project is worth around 1 billion 200 million FCFA.
The activities of the RILGRE project to promote agroecological practices and enhance agricultural production will extend to 13 communes in 3 regions. These regions are the central plateau, the center-east and the center-north. The overall aim is to improve the integrated management of natural resources and sustainably restore natural ecosystems in the Sahel, in order to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations in the face of climate change. According to Dieudonné ZAONGO, country representative for Solidar Suisse Burkina, the consortium’s lead partner, “RILGRE” is a term in the national Mooré language, meaning “to nourish”. He points out that project activities will be carried out in a participatory manner.
The project will benefit 20,000 people from households in the target groups, as well as microfinance institutions, traders and consumers of agricultural produce. The RILGRE project will work to sustainably restore degraded land for the benefit of communities, prevent land degradation through the adoption of adapted innovative agroecological practices, and enhance the value of restored land by developing inclusive and sustainable value chains. The launch workshop provided an insight into the project’s innovative approaches. These include community-based approaches to land restoration or protection through RILGRE (CoRi) agroecological communities of practice, contract farming, bio-inputs and farmers’ seeds.
Fidèle OUEDRAOGO, technical advisor to the governor of the Centre-Nord region, chaired the meeting in the presence of representatives of the consortium, Enabel and all stakeholders. All recognized the relevance of the project, which is in line with national policies, and encouraged the various players involved to ensure its successful implementation. The RILGRE project is financed under the Sahel Climate Thematic Portfolio and covers the period July 2023-June 2026.
