June 29, 2021

The Dutch Embassy in Burkina Faso visits our Nebnooma partnership

Staple Crops

Burkina Faso

Under the blazing sun, the rice fields in Bobo -Dioulasso at maturity shine with a golden glow. We are in the rice-growing area of Bama, located about 30 kilometers from the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. An afternoon marked by the visit of His Excellency, the chargé d'affaires of the Dutch Embassy to Burkina Faso, and his delegation.

Spread over an area of 1,400 ha, the Bama rice field aims to intensify rice production in Burkina Faso, where 58 percent of the rice consumed domestically is imported- a significant loss for the national economy. The rice partnership supported by 2SCALE, involving small-scale producers, the Nebnooma rice mill and several other actors, aims to reverse this trend.

About Nebnooma

Based in the industrial zone of Bobo-Dioulasso, Nebnooma, which means "humanism" in the local Mooré language, currently collects nearly 1,000 tons of paddy rice per year from small-scale farmers and offers consumers white rice of the TS2 and Orylux varieties packaged in 20 kg, 25 kg and 50 kg packages under the "Riz AMIR'' label. To better boost the supply of paddy rice to the Nebnooma, 2SCALE is facilitating the establishment of various agribusiness clusters that will eventually bring together nearly 12,000 small-scale farmers in two regions (mainly the Hauts-Bassins and Cascades regions).

According to Mr. Mahamadou Ouédraogo, CEO of Nebnooma, the support of 2SCALE has allowed them to increase their network of farmers.

We have signed 44 contracts with rice farmers’ cooperatives for a paddy volume of about 3,000 tons. In addition to strengthening the technical capacities of the network's producers, our rice mill has already benefited from 2SCALE's support in setting up several agribusiness clusters, designing new packaging for our products, expanding our client network, accelerating our business idea, etc. The remaining three years of the program will undoubtedly allow Nebnooma to ensure its leadership in the rice value chain with its new products (whole grain rice, parboiled rice, enriched low-grade rice flour).

In order to get a real picture of the interventions of the 2SCALE program in this partnership, the embassy delegation visited some sites of activities of the partnership.

Highlights of the visit

The visit began at the Nebnooma rice mill. With a hulling capacity of 41.6 tons per day, the unit produces grain rice and other by-products such as bran and rice husks that are bought back by farmers and shea processing units. When the delegation arrived, the factory was still running at full capacity with nearly 90 tons of stock ready to be dehulled.

Further on in the storage warehouse, the delegation was able to visit the various processed products from the factory. Particular attention was paid to the 40 tons of husked rice (TS2 and Orylux varieties) ready for sale on the market. However, one challenge continues to preoccupy the business champion, namely broken rice, which he is struggling to valorize. Nebnooma and 2SCALE are working on adding value to the broken rice in order to find new customers for this product.

From the processing unit, the delegation went to the rice-growing plains of Bama. This is operated by nine farmers’ cooperatives, with 1,385 members including 85 women. Here, the delegation learned about the innovations that the 2SCALE program is promoting alongside the farmers. These include the urea deep placement, the intensive rice cultivation system, the production and use of compost with Green Cross for rice among others. The ultimate goal of all these innovations is to enable farmers to increase their yields and farm income.

At the end of the visit, the chargé d'affaires of the Embassy congratulated the Nebnooma CEO and his staff for the quality work they are doing in the rice value chain in Burkina Faso.

It should be noted that one of the major ambitions of this Nebnooma - 2SCALE partnership is to process more than 14,000 tons of paddy rice by 2023 and to develop a variety of rice products for BoP consumers. All this is to be done in close collaboration with 12,000 small-scale producers, including 4,000 women and 8,000 youth.

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