05/09/2026
🇧🇫 BURKINA FASO: FARMERS ARE TESTING WHAT CAN GROW IN THE SAHEL 🌱🍍
Something unusual is happening outside Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
Pineapples, more commonly associated with wetter coastal regions of West Africa, are now being cultivated commercially in Burkina Faso's much drier Sahelian environment.
Farmer Oumarou Compaoré, who began his project in 2018, has expanded his pineapple operation to around 50 hectares. His example has helped inspire more than 100 other farmers to enter pineapple production, while total pineapple cultivation in the area has reportedly grown to roughly 100 hectares.
The development is part of a much wider conversation happening in Burkina Faso: How can a landlocked Sahel country produce more of what it consumes?
Under Captain Ibrahim Traoré's government, food sovereignty has become a major policy objective. Recent projects include the 605-hectare Niéguéma-Toukôrô irrigated agricultural area, supplied by the Samendéni dam, and the recently completed Pô-Kapro dam, designed to support drinking water, agriculture and fish farming.
There are encouraging economic indicators too. The World Bank estimates Burkina Faso's real GDP grew 5.3% in 2025, with agriculture among the sectors contributing to the improvement. But serious challenges remain including insecurity, climate pressures, irrigation costs, informal employment and the need to turn economic growth into sustainable jobs.
The pineapple story therefore isn't proof that Burkina Faso has solved food insecurity.
But it is an interesting example of agricultural experimentation, adaptation and local production in one of Africa's toughest climatic regions.
Could greater investment in irrigation, agricultural technology and local processing transform the Sahel into a much stronger food producing region?
What do you think?
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