Burkinabe women design an innovative, sustainable business model

Challenges

• Rice production in Burkina Faso is threatened by climate change, and the volumes of rice harvested are not stable. It is crucial to work with rice producers and women parboilers on the preservation of the environment to ensure a stable supply of rice.
• Rice producers are not willing to sell their rice to the parboilers on trust; they want to be paid immediately, and not after the women have sold their rice.
• Women parboilers have difficulties to pay rice producers upfront. They rarely have access to working capital, thus have to rely on their income, which only allows them to buy small quantities of rice at once.
• Women parboil about three quarters of their rice at home, as the collective parboiling centres do not have sufficient capacity. However, rice parboiled at home has a lower quality, as women do not have the necessary capital to buy the equipment needed to process the rice.
• Women parboilers often have weak entrepreneurial skills: they are not aware of the rice market, prices, bookkeeping skills, etc.
• UNERIZ does not have a brand name or recognisable packaging for its rice, which makes it difficult to launch a marketing campaign and gain consumer recognition.

ALTERNATIVE PARAGRAPH:

Women parboilers face many challenges. Climate change and the unstable harvest of rice volumes are a constant threat. Rice producers also don’t want to sell their rice on trust, but prefer getting paid immediately. Parboilers struggle to pay upfront since they rarely have access to working capital and as a result have to rely on the income they acquire after they sold the rice. Women parboilers thus only buy small quantities of rice at once. Additionally, women parboil about three quarters of their rice at home, due to the parboiling centres sufficient capacity. The issue with home parboiled rice is the lower quality since the women lack capital to buy the necessary equipment. Furthermore women don’t have entrepreneurial skills. Lastly, UNERIZ does not have a brand name or recognizable packaging for its rice, which makes it difficult to launch a marketing campaign and gain consumer recognition.

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Results reached 2014-2016

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Rikolto has been working together with UNERIZ since 2011 to strengthen the position of women parboilers in the Burkinabe society and increase their income. From 2014 onwards, Rikolto has supported UNERIZ’ sub-union in Douna to set up a collective rice parboiling centre, to allow the parboilers to improve the quality of their rice and sell at a higher price. Meanwhile, this model has been replicated in UNERIZ’ other sub-unions.

• From 2014 until 2016, the % of rice parboiled in Douna of which the quality corresponded to the market needs increased from 20% to 75%; and the % of rice with flaws and impurities decreased to 10%.
• From 2014 until 2016, the % of rice processed in the Douna centre that was sold collectively by the sub-union, increased from 5% to 80%; the total sales volumes increased from 120 to 420 tonnes. The main buyer of parboiled rice, SONAGESS, yearly renovates its contract.
• Women parboilers saw their income increase to approximately 450,000 francs CFA yearly since the opening of the collective parboiling centre. They indicate that these revenues from selling parboiled rice give them an important independence from their husbands, which contributes to their empowerment.
• Women parboilers have learned best practices to reduce water usage during the parboiling process, and tests have been done to replace the traditional wood fires with solar panels and with briquets made of rice hulls.
• UNERIZ has signed two contracts with Coris Bank for working capital, at low interest rates (8%).

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What do we expect by the end of 2018?

• A business model (franchising model) adapted to the needs of the women parboilers is developed in co-creation.
• The income of women parboilers who are a member of UNERIZ grows sustainably, because they sell higher volumes of quality parboiled rice.
• The business model helps women overcome several challenges: UNERIZ offers the right services to parboiling women, their entrepreneurial and parboiling skills improve, and women can sell their rice more easily thanks to the existence of a rice brand known by consumers for its good quality.

What do we expect in the long run?

The model, if proven feasible from a financial, cultural, socio-economic and environmental point of view, will be scaled up in Burkina Faso, and across West-Africa.

Figures

Rikolto works together with UNERIZ. Its 3,730 members (all women) are the key beneficiaries of this project. Indirect beneficiaries include the rice producers, and urban and rural consumers who gain access to higher quality rice.

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