The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) office in Burkina Faso held its Open Door event on March 6 in Ouagadougou. This event offered agricultural stakeholders an opportunity to discover IFDC’s achievements in agricultural development and food security in the country and is one of the many activities around the world marking IFDC’s 50th anniversary as it commemorates “50 Years of Developing Agriculture from the Ground Up.”
The Open Door event in Burkina Faso also provided an opportunity to remind agricultural stakeholders of IFDC’s new strategy for the next decade: developing better technologies, catalyzing farm productivity, strengthening markets, and enabling impact. By leveraging its expertise while integrating expanded partnerships, IFDC remains poised to solve problems of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and environmental sustainability. To achieve large-scale impact, research is needed to develop technologies specifically for the needs of farmers to further their agricultural productivity.
“Major improvements in agricultural systems, particularly changes in nutrient use efficiency and soil health, will be necessary to meet our common challenges to create a more food secure and globally sustainable world.”
Dr. Bocar Diagana, IFDC Enabling Impact Director
For more than 20 years, IFDC has been implementing its mission in Burkina Faso to increase agricultural productivity and contribute to food security. Moussa Dionou, IFDC Country Director of Burkina Faso and Mali, explained the organization’s impact, saying, “In 2023, IFDC implemented projects and programs in Burkina Faso in collaboration with more than 30 public and private partners in around 20 provinces of the country. Our interventions directly affected 201,956 producers and contributed to improving access to nutritious foods for more than 300,000 low-income consumers for total funding of approximately 1,075,253,008 CFA francs (U.S. $1,791,113).”
IFDC has also signed a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal, and Fisheries Resources (MARAH) of Burkina Faso for major interventions in the agricultural sector. Recalling IFDC initiatives, Gaoussou Sanou, Secretary General of MARAH, said, “The ministry would like to express its congratulations to IFDC for its 20 years of contribution to the agricultural development of Burkina Faso. IFDC has played a crucial role in training researchers and implementing various projects and programs that have truly improved the agricultural sector.”
Now commemorating its 50th anniversary, IFDC reiterates its commitment to ensuring sustainable and resilient agriculture, as well as its dedication to meeting the current and future challenges of food security and soil health in Burkina Faso.
To address these challenges, IFDC implements four projects in the country:
- Soil Values: A 10-year program financed by the Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) where the primary objective is to establish sustainable soil fertility management as a cornerstone within the farming systems of the Sahelian and Guinea Savanna regions.
- Feed the Future Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems Project for West Africa: The Feed the Future EnGRAIS Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to increase the availability and use of fertilizers that are appropriate and affordable for smallholder farmers in West Africa.
- Sustain Africa Burkina Faso: Funded by and part of the global Sustain Africa initiative, this five-month initiative aims to improve food security through access and cost-effective use of 20,000 metric tons (mt) of fertilizer by 100,000 smallholder and commercial-oriented farmers in two phases.
- Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship (2SCALE): Funded by DGIS-Netherlands, 2SCALE focuses on supporting agribusiness clusters built around business champions, developing products and markets for local consumer markets, preferably at the base of the pyramid.
Since its founding in 1974, IFDC has been committed to improving the livelihoods of farmers and agro-entrepreneurs and has continued to focus on the use of innovative and sustainable fertilizers and agricultural technologies to optimize agricultural productivity while preserving natural resources and reducing environmental impact.
