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.
Rice is the staple food of more than 17 million Burkinabés, with annual consumption reaching around 844,000 tonnes by 2025. It is the fourth most widely consumed cereal in Burkina Faso and represents a major strategic and economic challenge. In light of the significant increase in demand for rice and its substantial environmental impact, it is imperative that the rice sector undergoes transformation to facilitate the transition to sustainable food systems that can generate decent incomes and employment opportunities for all stakeholders, particularly small-scale farmers (including men, women, and young people).
The main challenges to be addressed are:
To define its actions by 2026, Rikolto built on the achievements of its 2017-2021 programme. Our approach is based on three complementary pillars: sustainable production, inclusive markets, and an enabling environment for the development of the sector.
Rikolto supports producers in training in good agricultural practices (GAP), in accordance with the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard. Their implementation reduces production costs and, therefore, improves farmers' incomes. Implementing these practices reduces production costs and improves farmers' incomes. These practices also promote environmental sustainability and adaptation to climate change, particularly through tools such as the Smart Valley approach.
The project supports the development of internal control systems (SCI) and SRP insurance mechanisms within farmers' organisations (POs). It also strengthens the POs' management skills to facilitate inclusive business relationships with other sector actors.
Rikolto works to create more equitable, transparent and inclusive value chains for all stakeholders, including producers, processors, steamers and traders. Particular attention is paid to the participation of women and young people through gender integration across all programme activities. Rikolto encourages farmers' organisations (POs) and their partners to promote gender awareness, strengthen the position of women in value chains, and include them in decision-making processes. According to a study by the Burkina Faso Rice Interprofession (CIRB), the rice sector generates around 300 jobs per year, 60% of which are occupied by women. Women are playing an increasingly important role in production, governance and entrepreneurship, running their own plots of land, generating income and occupying decision-making positions within the sector.
Rikolto supported the development of franchise business models run by women parboilers, grouped together within the National Union of Cooperative Rice Parboiling Societies of Burkina (UNERIZ). Thanks to technical support, including the design of adapted cooking kits, the introduction of renewable energies such as solar dryers, training in education and financial management, and the development of business plans, as well as support to facilitate access to credit, these women have become real business leaders. They now produce high-quality parboiled rice, participate in institutional tenders, and contribute to the economies of their homes and communities. The next objective is to scale up this franchise business model.
At the same time, Rikolto supports the commercialisation of paddy and parboiled rice by strengthening the links between farmers' organisations (POs), private distributors, members of the merchant association, supermarkets and institutional buyers. To facilitate access to finance, those involved in the various stages of the process were supported in developing business plans and received training in financial education and management. These efforts have enabled the mobilisation of over 5 billion CFA francs in credit for the development of the sector.
To guarantee the sustainability of results, Rikolto also acts on the political and institutional environment of the sector. The project facilitates multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) to promote dialogue and advocacy on sustainable rice production (SRP), quality and inclusive trade relationships. These spaces encourage the co-creation of solutions with public authorities, inter-professional organisations, and financial institutions. Advocacy efforts have already influenced several positive changes:
It is essential to consolidate these achievements in order to enable value chain actors to initiate change themselves, innovate, and influence public policies in favour of sustainable, inclusive, and competitive rice.
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The introduction of the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard enabled producers to reduce production costs thanks to lower fertilizer and pesticide use, while improving rice quality. This has led to increased demand, particularly for the TS2 and Orylux varieties. Yields have increased from 3–4 tonnes/hectare to 5–6 tonnes/hectare, resulting in an average increase in net revenues of 17% between 2022 and 2024.
A total of 7,904 producers have benefited from better trade agreements thanks to improvements in rice quality and the establishment of inclusive business practices.
Women franchisees have considerably increased their volumes of parboiled rice as has their income: their net profits have almost doubled, supported by better market access and a 14% increase in the selling price. Over the years, UNERIZ has become a solid business partner, enabling it to obtain investment from Kampani to finalise a processing and distribution centre. It has also received increased support from the government in the form of new machinery, thus increasing its production capacity from 8 to 15 tons per day.
Farmers' cooperatives have strengthened their commercial ties with buyers, particularly women parboilers, who prefer rice that meets the SRP standard. The total volume of sustainable rice sold on the market increased from 8,641 tonnes in 2022 to 14,200 tonnes in 2024.
Through its support of the rice interprofession (CIRB), Rikolto has contributed to creating a more favourable framework for the development of sustainable rice production, while strengthening the CIRB's role as a driver of change and a key partner in the implementation of the National Rice Development Strategy (SNDR II).
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