| The scene is Ouagadougou, after a meeting of Burkinabe representatives of NGOs for International Solidarity. These NGOs support rural development in Burkina Faso. Our meeting has finished. It has gone well, in a climate of mutual listening. It is almost noon. I decide to ask some questions to the Burkinabe there: "What did you eat this morning before coming to the meeting?
Answer: "We had a milky coffee and some bread." "And last night, what did you eat?” Answer: "Rice." And yesterday lunch time? - "Rice again." Others: "Pasta." I finish: "In which case, you do not need our Burkinabe farmers." Their faces hardened and then one among them took a risk: "That’s true!” It’s just that most rice is imported, as is the wheat. The meeting is over. Everyone is going home. But we need to continue this reflection. We have here the results of a national policy that has always favoured the town to the detriment of the countryside. While all the developed countries protect their farmers, Burkina Faso, as well as many other African countries, has always sought to feed its urban populations as cheaply as possible. And so Burkina Faso allows the barely taxed entry of – among other products – rice and wheat (heavily subsidised). Bread, unknown at the beginning of the 20th Century, has spread to even the furthest away villages. More than 80% of Burkina’s population live off agriculture and/or stock breeding. So the development of the country is through the development of its agriculture? If the price policy discourages the farmers, what can the future hold for the country as a whole? In the report of the Economic and Monetary Union of West African States (EMUWAS), "Les grandes orientations de la Politiques Agricoles de l'UEMOA", we read on page 27: "The difference between the rural and urban revenues – 1: 4 for the EMUWAS as a whole – has reached alarming proportions for Niger and Burkina Faso".
(it is 1:9 in Burkina Faso!) What is a country’s independence worth, if it depends almost entirely on foreign trade to feed its urban populations? This is why, it seems to me, it is so necessary and urgent for Burkina Faso and other countries of the South to insist on their right of food sovereignty. "Food sovereignty means the RIGHT of populations, their states and unions of states to define their agriculture and food policy without dumping by a third country. “ Maurice Oudet Koudougou, 3rd February 2003. | 
