The Government should take an interest in rice processed by women

Burkina Faso decided to celebrate the International Day of Women by choosing the theme « Investing in women and girls for sustainable human development – a priority and regional strategy ». To be consistent with this celebration theme the government ought to take rice processed by its female citizens into closer consideration.

This morning I was still in the  Sourou rice district, coming to the end of a short stay. I had an opportunity to speak to the leaders of the rice growers’ organisation and to the association of women working with rice processing.

According to the latest news the Minister of Agriculture apparently still attempts to offer 115 CFA francs for  unprocessed paddy rice. This time there is to be a regular contract. Farmers organisations which take out fertiliser (urea and N-P-K) on credit (and at a subsidised price of 280 000 a ton) will not only have to pay back the loan, but the subsidy (of around 25%) as well, by selling off 15% of their paddy rice harvest at 115 CFA francs per kg. This offer from the government does not seem to interest rice farmers much - and the women workers in rice processing even less.

Indeed, the women have only one fear - that there will not be enough paddy rice for them to parboil ! At present they are happy to see that their parboiled rice is much appreciated and that finally they have been able to secure a profitable activity. One only has to exchange a few words with them, when they come in to the warehouse to collect paddy rice for their work, to realise that something has changed in the Sourou valley (as well as in other rice districts in the country). Proof of the change: the women now have started saving.

The photograph to the left shows women coming to the warehouse to take out bags of paddy rice. They are neither afraid of taking out large quantities, nor of   all the work that this implies. The picture was taken a few days after the Women’s march in Ouagadougou for the launch of the National Women’s Week, which had as its main theme “Investing in women and girls for sustainable human development – a priority and its regional strategies”

The march was led by Ministers Céline Yoda, Salamata Sawadogo and Pascaline Tamini, in charge of the Promotion of Women, Human Rights, Social Action and National Solidarity.

The women parboilers in the Sourou district would be very pleased if the Ministers would bring their case to the Minister of Agriculture. They could make a proposal that would be entirely in  line with the theme of the National Women’s Week. Instead of suggesting a deal for paddy rice from the large rice districts, the government could start looking more to the processed parboiled rice. It could offer the farmers’ organisations and the women a price of 300 000 CFA francs a ton for parboiled rice (the price may be negotiated, taking the size of the subsidy into account). The empty bags should be provided by the government.

A farmers’ organisation, which has incurred a debt of 30 Mio CFA francs for fertiliser, could pay back by delivering 100 tons of parboiled rice. The organisation would then be free to market the remainder of its production without any further constraints. The dead-line for reimbursement would be September 30^th for debts related to fertiliser for the dry season crops and March 30^th for fertiliser delivered for crops of the rainy season.

This price is well below the current price of imported rice (about 25%). And the quality is far better!

Such a proposal has several advantages

·         It would facilitate paying back loans

·         The price is definitely interesting for the government

·         The price gives both farmers and the women workers a profit, because of the subsidy for fertiliser (on condition that the cost of subsidised fertiliser does not exceed  280 000 francs a ton)

·         The nutritional value of the home-grown rice is such that is would be of good use in hospitals, schools, the army …

·         Such an operation would strengthen the status of women in the vast irrigated lowland areas.

I left the Sourou plains before the discussion  of these ideas had come to an end. The women from Sourou (and other areas)  will most certainly make use of the 13^th National Farmers’ Day, which will be held in Koudougou in a few days, to make their voice heard.

Koudougou, March 8th 2009

Maurice Oudet

Director, SEDELAN