Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Rikolto builds on a track record of over 40 years in agricultural development in the region. In 2025, we reached 9,102 producers in Burkina Faso.

Currently, we are running our Sustainable rice programme, and our Good Food for Cities programme in the cities of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.

Sustainable Rice programme highlights for 2025

The SMART-Valley approach offers a low-cost, community-based solution for water management in wetlands. In 2025, 18 community leaders — including four women — were trained and supported the capacity building and adoption of SMART-Valley practices among 1,875 farmers. Additionally, 50 Farmer Field Schools were established in the irrigated schemes of Bama, Bagré, Banzon, and Douna, ensuring sustainable rice production on 2,400 hectares, benefiting a total of 8,710 farmers. To scale up these efforts, 34 agricultural advisors from four regional directorates were trained in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), aligned with the SRP standard. Advocacy efforts led by Rikolto and strategic partners such as GIZ, JICA, FAO, and AGRA as part of the Burkina Rice Observatory contributed to increased government investment in the rice sector in 2025. More than €1.7 million was mobilised for rice production and transformation, equipping our partner organisations in Douna, Banzon and Bama with tractors and advanced processing technology, including optical sorters and a complete mini-milling line.

Good Food for Cities programme highlights for 2025

Rikolto’s Good Food School initiative in six schools in Bobo-Dioulasso contributed to a shift in how municipal authorities think about healthy and sustainable school food. As a result, at the end of 2025, the municipality committed to supporting 20 additional schools in establishing and managing school gardens, providing agricultural materials, seeds, and bio-inputs. In Ouagadougou, two pilot market upgrades - 74 modernised stalls for women vegetable vendors at Nabii Yaar market and 18 mobile counters for street food vendors at Rood-Woko market - supported through the EU-funded AfriFOODlinks project, received the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Award in the 'Food Supply and Distribution' category the same year. Rikolto also supported the review of the Public Health Code, which dates back to 2003.

Projects

Good Food for Cities
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AfriFOODLinks in Ouagadougou: healthier and safe street food, school meals, and food markets

Transforming Africa’s Urban Food Environments through Strengthening Linkages between Food Systems Stakeholders in Cities across the Continent and Europe
Updated on:
June 25, 2025
Burkina Faso
Good Food for Cities
ENDED

Good Food at School at Burkina Faso & Senegal: Building Healthier School Food Environments in West Africa

Good Food at School strengthens school food systems in Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, Dakar and Thiès, improving nutrition and local sourcing for students.
Updated on:
June 25, 2025
Senegal
Burkina Faso
Sustainable rice
ENDED

Towards a sustainable and inclusive rice sector in Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, Rikolto works with stakeholders in the rice sector to provide consumers with healthy, nutritious and sustainable rice at an affordable price, while creating income, profits and decent jobs and reducing the sector's negative environmental impact for future generations. The project aims to sustainably transform the rice sector in Burkina Faso.
Updated on:
August 31, 2025
Burkina Faso
Good Food for Cities
ENDED

Generation Food: transforming Ouagadougou's food system

Setting up their own enterprises to produce, process or package food in a sustainable way can provide young Burkinabe with a decent income, while also tackling key issues related to the sustainability of our food system. They bring a breath of fresh air to the local food system.
Updated on:
June 25, 2025
Burkina Faso
Good Food for Cities
ENDED

Restoring the Green Belt to address climate change in Ouagadougou

The Green Belt in Ouagadougou used to be a protective green lung for the city, but it has gradually lost its vitality. The Flanders International Climate Action Programme, funded by the Government of Flanders, the Municipality of Ouagadougou and Rikolto, aims to restore it. The project involves restoring degraded land, planting native trees and promoting agroecological farming practices. These efforts aim to regenerate the landscape and strengthen the resilience of the women and young people who depend on it.
Updated on:
June 25, 2025
Burkina Faso
Sustainable rice
ENDED

Burkinabe women design an innovative, sustainable business model

Franchising allows them to improve the quality of home-parboiled rice, and sell it at a higher price
Updated on:
August 31, 2025
Burkina Faso
Good Food for Cities
ENDED

Generation Food goes international

A young community of innovators wants to give their peers a sustainable future through inclusive businesses in food systems.
Updated on:
June 25, 2025
Burkina Faso
Ecuador
Uganda
Belgium
Sustainable rice
ENDED

West African rice farmers reconquering the local rice market

Rice farmers' organisations in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal are improving their competitiveness and their relations with the private and public sectors to win back larger shares of the rice market in West Africa.
Updated on:
August 31, 2025
Benin
Burkina Faso
Mali
Senegal
Sustainable rice
ENDED

Rice farmers' organisations gain access to a significant share of institutional markets

National rice farmers' organisations in Mali and Burkina Faso are supplying schools and public institutions with sustainable, high-quality rice, creating new local synergies that benefit farmers and consumers alike, and lobbying governments to formalise institutional market exchanges.
Updated on:
August 31, 2025
Mali
Burkina Faso

Read the latest stories from the ground

Sustainable rice

From Confucius’ bent arm to the west african canteens

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Good food at school, Regenerative agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Planting seeds for better school food systems in West African cities

Posted in:
Inclusive markets, Good Food at School
Good Food for Cities

What our midterm evaluations reveal about food system change: insights from our global Belgian Development Cooperation funded programme

Posted in:
Gender equality, Inclusive markets, Sustainable food landscapes, Regenerative agriculture, Youth in agriculture
Sustainable rice

The cluster effect: boosting local value and supply chain competitiveness

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Inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Where Better Markets Begin: Ouagadougou’s Journey to Milan

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Inclusive Markets
Sustainable rice

Seeds of change: initiatives in the rice programme

Posted in:
Gender equality, inclusive markets, regernerative agriculture, youth in agriculture, sustainable food landscape
Good Food for Cities

How AfriFOODlinks is turning two schools in Ouagadougou into examples of healthy transformation of their school food environment

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Inclusive Markets
Sustainable rice

Inclusive Business Models: Reflections from Rikolto's session at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2025

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Inclusive business
Good Food for Cities

New publication with FAO: Strengthening local and traditional food markets in cities

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Inclusive markets, Sustainable food landscapes
Sustainable rice

Becoming a voice in the rice sector in Africa

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Inclusive markets, Regenerative agriculture, Sustainable food landscape
Good Food for Cities

From start-up to nurturing innovation: empowering youth agrifood entrepreneurs in growing cities

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Youth in agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Food, trees and the future: a dialogue for the Ouagadougou green belt

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Regenerative agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Rikolto Podcast: How to thrive through change?

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Gender equality, Inclusive markets, Sustainable food lanscapes, Youth in agiculture, Regenerative agriculture
Sustainable rice

A five-year journey with the Sustainable Rice Platform standard

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Regenerative agriculture
Sustainable rice

From rice to rice+: Rikolto’s holistic approach to sustainable farming

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Sustainable food lanscapes
Good Food for Cities

AfriFOODlinks spearheads a new era of food system collaboration with African cities

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inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Multi-stakeholder initiative for improved financial access in Burkina Faso

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Inclusive markets
Sustainable rice

Rikolto Podcast: Rice, the climate and you

Posted in:
Inclusive markets, Regenerative agriculture
Good Food for Cities

A consolidated team to empower a new generation of young food entrepreneurs

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Youth in agriculture
Sustainable rice

Increased market opportunities for rice mills in Burkina Faso

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Inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Game-changers for sustainable food systems – A reflection piece in support of #AfricanCITYFOODMonth

Posted in:
gender equality, youth in agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Hado: a food entrepreneur thriving when SMEs are integrally empowered in Burkina Faso

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Gender equality, Inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Amza Koudougou: a West African young entrepreneur committed to success

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Youth in agriculture, Inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Bénédicte's path to sustainable production

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Inclusive markets, Youth in agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Building trust in the sesame value chain in Burkina Faso

Posted in:
Inclusive markets, Gender equality
Good Food for Cities

Young entrepreneurs use their newly acquired skills to position their brands

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Gender equality
Sustainable rice

Innovation is an inclusive action

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Inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Generation Food: The challenge continues in Ouagadougou

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Youth in agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Shedding new light on our work: Rikolto delivers results efficiently

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Inclusive markets, sustainable food landscapes, regenerative agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Young people driving food changes in African cities – A reflection piece from Rikolto in support of #AfricanCITYFOODMonth

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Youth in agriculture
Good Food for Cities

Generation Food: hacking the challenge of feeding Ouagadougou

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Youth in agriculture
Sustainable rice

A youth cooperative makes its mark on the rice value chain in Bagré, Burkina Faso

Posted in:
Inclusive markets, Youth in agriculture
Sustainable rice

Franchise developed with UNERIZ adapted for resilience of rice parboiling micro-enterprises facing the effects of COVID-19

Posted in:
Inclusive markets, Gender equality
Sustainable rice

The rice mills bringing quality rice to Burkinabe consumers

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Inclusive markets
Good Food for Cities

Rikolto's Food Heroes

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Inclusive markets