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Until quite recently, female producers in Burkina Faso benefitted little from the lucrative shea value chain, as they were primarily involved in upstream production activities with little added value. SNV, together with two other organisations, supported the formation of the Nununa Federation of women groups, and the creation of six production centres. Simultaneously, SNV supported Nununa to change its business model from semi-artisanal processing to centralised and semi-industrial processing of shea butter. This turned the Federation into a more competitive and financially sound business model, while simultaneously redistributing more profits to its members.

Wouol, an association of 1500 mango producers in Burkina Faso, is one of the country’s largest suppliers of dried mangos. After years of investments and generous donor support, the association had reached a turning point – it needed to find an economic balance by improving output and exploring new markets. With SNV’s support, the association is now heading in a new direction, based on sound commercial principles. With a new buyer for its products, Wouol is now reforming its internal structure in order to motivate staff, and is gaining confidence in its efforts to compete in the organic food sector.

Shea is the third largest agricultural export product from Burkina Faso, after cotton and livestock products. The sector is predominantly female and a source of income for nearly 400,000 women involved in collecting and processing of shea. During 2008/2009, SNV has provided support to the ‘Fédération des Associations de Développement Economiques des Femmes du Sud-Ouest’ to improve its management and its internal processes, in the support of a large marketing contract between FADEFSO and a processing plant. These activities are important, as shea is a substantial source of income and gives opportunities for self-employment.

Le karité (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn) est une ressource stratégique pour le Burkina Faso de par sa contribution à l’économie, à la sécurité alimentaire et fournissant un revenu à plus de 500 000 femmes. Cependant, on constate un accès limité des femmes aux arbres à karité situés dans les zones protégées, dans les forêts sacrées villageoises et dans des champs familiaux. Ces zones qui abritent l’essentiel des pieds de karité constituent les lieux d’approvisionnement des femmes en noix de karité. Cette situation cause des conflits de diverses natures entre des acteurs aux perceptions et intérêts divergents : confits de genre entre hommes propriétaires et femmes collectrices; conflit entre collectrices et coutumiers ; et entre collectrices et services de l’environnement. Le faible accès aux parcs à karité limite le revenu des femmes et influence négativement le rendement des parcs qui ne sont pas entièrement valorisés. Dans ce contexte, la SNV a contribué à la facilitation de l’accès et du contrôle des femmes de l’Union des Groupements de Productrices des Produits du Karité du Houet (UGPPK/H) sur 5 parcs à karité dans la Province du Houet.
La création d’un espace de dialogue via la mise en place d’une plateforme de concertation multi acteur a été un des facteurs de succès de cette intervention. Cette plateforme permettra la poursuite du dialogue entre acteurs et les résultats obtenus inciteront à la réplication du processus par d’autres organisations.

The shea tree is a strategic resource for Burkina Faso because of its contribution to the economy, food security and income. The harvesting of nuts is a predominantly female activity, however, women’s access to shea trees is hampered by a number of socio-cultural and political factors, of which the most important is women’s limited ownership rights over land and other productive resources. This case highlights how SNV helped to establish a multi-actor platform to facilitate dialogue between key stakeholders. Additionally, women participated in capacity building activities, covering negotiation, leadership and management skills

The Nununa Federation brings together 4,000 women shea producers in Burkina Faso. Shea is traditionally collected and processed by women. In 2009, the Federation changed its business model completely with the support of SNV to become, today, a profitable semi-industrial processing unit with diversified export outlets, whose shareholders are the women producers. The production of shea butter was increased by industrializing the processing of the butter, which enabled the Federation to become more competitive, to increase profitability and redistribute more profits to its thousands of women members. At the same time women earned more from selling the kernels and could diversify their income by for example producing and selling sesame. The 4,000 members have profited from a 95% increase in income from shea production, while the position and workload of women shea nut collectors has also improved. Additionally, together with their families, they are benefiting from social activities stimulated and financed by the Federation, such as health insurance and education. In total, these changes in shea production have changed the lives of more than 24,000 people.

The outreach of the cotton sub-sector in West Africa is huge: in countries like Benin, Burkina and Mali it has encompassed over 750,000 households. In the past 20 years, as a result of cotton sub-sector reforms, multi-tier cotton farmers’ organisations have emerged, which today act as primary stakeholders in cotton supply chains and whose role goes beyond producing cotton. They played a vital role in the expansion of the chain in the 1980-90s and in achieving the establishment of a more balanced sub-sector in the 2000s. Faced with the challenge of taking on new roles, these farmers’ organisations have developed new capacities, often supported by SNV and others. They have represented and supported their members in various fields, of which two dimensions are highlighted in the case: price negotiations and farm management services. In 2010, producers through negotiations were able to increase the farm gate price by 15 FCFA/kg (9% increase) amounting to an extra 6 Million Euro revenues. Farm management services have been localized, helping farmers to improve efficiency and productivity of their farm enterprises; and to balance returns from cotton exports with food crops grown for the local and regional markets as well as for home consumption. The producer organisations thus became crucial in keeping the chain and farming systems economically viable as well as contributing substantially to food security in the region.