February 10, 2022

Opportunities for youth in agri-food processing

For several decades, as in countries, youth unemployment and underemployment have been shared concerns by many African governments. In Burkina Faso, 67% of the population is under the age of 25. Creating employment conditions for this important segment of the population remains a thorny equation to solve. However, the country has enormous potential in agri-food production and processing with a strong possibility to impact on the employability of young people. To make this sector an attractive and job-providing opportunity for young people, these are the objectives that the 2SCALE program has set, through its youth inclusion strategy, which targets 40% of young people in the various partnership activities.

Barro Sonde Mathias in Orodara and Ouedraogo Alimata Mariam in Ouagadougou are two young people who have oriented their efforts towards the processing of cassava into various by-products such as paste, attiéké, gari, and tapioca.

From teaching to cassava processing, BARRO Sonde Mathias finds a new path

At 29 years old, Barro Sonde Mathias is the manager of the food processing company "Merveille production". For Mr. Barro, processing is a family story. Son of a famous cassava processor in the high basins region, he has been lulled since his childhood by the rhythmic beat of the grinders, without necessarily arousing in him the desire to develop in this sector. However, everything changed in 2020 during a visit from the 2SCALE team as part of the implementation of the agri-business clusters (ABC), after which he received advice on the benefits of agri-food processing. Hesitant at first, it was after several phone conversations with a coach from the business support service that he finally decided to go for it. Today, he considers his choice to be a good one and admits that he did not apply to the last teacher recruitments. Thanks to the connection of his unit with the other actors of the cassava partnership, he believes he is safe from a shortage of cassava stock.

Mr. Barro's big dream is to develop other nutritious cassava-based products, accessible to all households including low-income consumers.

Women, key actors of the transformation

Mrs. Ouedraogo Alimata Mariam is a promoter of a processing unit called "AGRONOURE INOV", dedicated mainly to the processing of cassava into paste. Previously, Alimata transformed cassava into attiéké and sold it directly on the local market. Following training in the context of the NanAlim-2SCALE partnership, she discovered new commercial opportunities related to cassava processing. Thanks to the networking of the partnership's actors and the access to a stable and guaranteed market offered by NanAlim, she can easily produce and sell up to 60 bags of cassava paste per month, with each bag being 100 kg.

The establishment of her processing unit has created employment for other women, including women displaced by the security crisis.

Nowadays, Alimata's ambition is to see her unit grow even bigger, offering more opportunities for the development and empowerment of women. This is why she calls on women to seize the existing opportunities in the agribusiness sector:

I invite all women, especially young women, to join the agri-food industry. This is more than a necessity, because women are transformers at the base.

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