At Niassan and Débé (in the midst of the rice district of Sourou) 500 young girls at the Production and Training Centre neglect the good rice of Sourou for outdated Thai rice

This shows the great importance the government attaches to the training of young girls, understandably, since the national production and training centres are the result of a commitment made by the Head of State in 1994. Since the start around 2000 girls have received training at the centres.

The purpose of setting up training centres for girls is to improve the social and economic conditions of adolescents from rural areas, through teaching them skills that enable them to act as relay agents for development in their respective communities. The 3 previous groups had a total of about 1910 students. During a two-year period they live in the centre’s boarding schools, right in the Sourou rice district.

A few days ago I visited my rice grower friends in Niassan and herdsmen in Débé. I learnt that at one of the restaurants in Niassan, the owner served Thai or Vietnamese rice! I expressed my astonishment to my friends. They told me: “There is even worse! The restaurant owner is not the only one to turn her back on Sourou rice. Did you know that the 500 young trainees at the CPF centre in Niassan and Débé eat Thai rice??” No, I did not. I was even incapable of imagining such a possibility!

What a waste!

So there we are – in these centres the young girls, representing the future of rural Burkina, are led to ignore rice produced in their own country and to prefer imported rice, of which there is no guarantee of quality.

What a waste, especially when considering that it would have been possible to provide these students with some very useful skills, teaching them to parboil paddy rice. Already at the present time, for many women in Burkina, this activity is the mainstay of their income. But the country could do more. Considering that in nearby Guinea rice imports have fallen by half since efficient stoves for parboiling rice became widely used. The stoves from Mr Tomojema’s stores could be of good use. They are on sale even in Niassan!

The choice to serve foreign rice can not be justified by financial constgraints. For example, this year an association of growers, CANI, sold their paddy rice at 115 francs per kg. The quality was so good that out of 3 kg of paddy rice, it was possible to extract over 2 kg of parboiled rice. This, all overhead costs taken into account, meant that good parboiled rice could be obtained for less than 200 francs per kg. That is less expensive than Thai rice, delivered to Niassan. Even if Thai rice swells more than domestic rice, parboiled rice swells more than plain white husked rice. And moreover its nutritional value is much higher!

How can they show such disdain for Sourou rice producers? How can one possibly imagine that these girls, once they have completed their training, will ever turn into “relay agents for development in their community”, if they have not even been able to appreciate the quality of production in the community where they have been living for two years?

In two days time we will have new Members of Parliament in Burkina Faso. I feel certain that the forthcoming MP from the Sourou constituency will have some serious questions to ask of the Government in the National Assembly with regard to this scandal!

Koudougou May 4, 2007

Maurice Oudet

Director, SEDELAN

On October 30^th 2006 this Editor wrote:” In addition, Mr Tomojema who is present at each Arts, Crafts and Trade Fair of Ouagadougou (SIAO) today has stoves in kits, that the customer can set up on his own, with a capacity of 50kg batches. It comes at a price affordable for womens’ groups who earn their living by parboiling rice. A stove sells for 75 000 francs”.

You may see the stove by clicking on 

http://www.abcburkina.net/content/view/471/55/