Burkina Faso: Mango producers unite in a National Union
On Thursday November 11th a general meeting was held in Bobo-Dioulasso to set up the National Union of Mango Producers of Burkina Faso. Representatives of the various sectors of mango production from five regions of the country took part. The Governor of the Hauts-Bassins region, Pascal Benon, presided over the opening ceremony.
Mango used to be picked as a supplement to the regular food. Today, however, mango is an important part of the trade between the production areas. In order to better organise this trade a general meeting was held in Bobo-Dioulasso on November 11th to set up an umbrella organisation of mango producers.
the National Union of Mango Producers of Burkina Faso was founded, with some ten affiliated producer organisations. The setting up of the UNPMB is a victory in itself, because enormous interests were at stake from the start.
The grid with sliced mango ready for the ovenSliced and dried mango out of the oven The unfortunate organising experiences of the recent past seemed to indicate hurdles that were impossible to overcome at the time. “But good will, the hope of a better future and lessons learnt from the previous experience have outstripped the pessimism over former failures”, said Paul Ouédraogo, the chairman of the organising committee of the November 11th general meeting. In his opening address Mr Ouédraogo expressed the wish that the union would cover the entire national territory.
The Governor of the Hauts-Bassins region congratulated the mango producers of Burkina on their initiative of forming an organisation representing them. He thanked the PAFASP (Programme d’appui aux filières agro-sylvo-pastorales – The support programme for the agriculture, forestry and livestock trades), the largest affiliate of the union, and expressed the hope that this new body would not merely “fill up space in the institutional landscape” but be the visibleevidence of a commitment to meet the challenges of mango production and export.
Josias Zounzaola Dabire
From the daily paper "LE PAYS" of November 21st 2010.
