Ouagadougou: The Minister of Agriculture, animal and fishery resources, Ismaël Sombié, visited the sites of Guénako (Kénédougou Province) and Yendéré (Comoé Province), in the Hauts-Bassins and Cascades regions, on Monday January 29, 2024, to ensure the relaunch of fruit and vegetable production.

The Council of Ministers at its meeting of December 29, 2023 adopted a report relating to a proposal for solutions for the development of the fruit and vegetable production sites of the former company Flex Faso.

As a result, the sites of Kourinion-Guénako of 500 hectares (ha) and Yendéré also of an area of 500 ha were handed over to the local population for the relaunch of exploitation.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of this relaunch, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal and Fisheries Resources, Ismaël Sombié, visited the said sites on Monday January 29, 2024.

According to the minister, this visit is part of the implementation of the government’s instruction which is to take all measures so that the lands whi
ch have been made available to the population can be exploited in the best possible way. time limit.

The ministerial delegation was able to observe the provisions that are being implemented by the various stakeholders, in particular the decentralized structures in collaboration with local populations for ‘optimal’ exploitation of these sites.

‘We were also able to see that the populations are very enthusiastic and grateful to the government which took this decision to restore their rights and support them so that these lands can be exploited,’ underlined the minister. responsible for agriculture.

Abandoned for a long time, both sites are experiencing water problems.

On site, Minister Sombié instructed the technical services of his department so that two boreholes could be made ‘quickly’ available to the population on the Yendéré site.

‘On the Guénako site, we decided to put back in place the system that had been designed and which made it possible to irrigate the areas that were previously exploited,’ he
suggested.

According to the village chief of Kourinion, Drissa Traoré, the populations want to work to develop the site in order to create wealth and employment for women and young people.

‘We also want to improve the quality of the local cashew,’ he said.

Listening to him, the population has set up two entities. A first which will focus on arboriculture (mango), but with an offensive on market gardening production.

And the second entity, according to him, will take care of the maintenance of the cashew nut.

‘The site is entrusted to community management under the responsibility of the local community of Kourinion,’ notified the village chief.

As for the youth representative of Yendéré, Tiakoumbiè Soulama, he underlined the availability of young people to work on the 500 ha.

‘There are dynamic young people available to work, but water is lacking,’ he said.

Tiakoumbiè Soulama indicated that Yendéré producers face several difficulties.

It is about the lack of water and the action of elephants which des
troy crops.

‘We had built small wells to be able to work, but this is only done for a while, because in one or two months these wells dry up.

Throughout the dry season, young gardeners are unemployed,’ noted Tiakoumbiè Soulama.

Source: Burkina Information Agency