By Emmanuel Tumanjong

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


Burkina Faso said Tuesday it had spent 50 billion CFA francs (about $81.5 million) buying fertilizer and other inputs to help the West African nation boost its agricultural output amid rising commodity prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

It is then selling subsidized product to farmers of cotton, rice, and other crops, who can buy a 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer for XAF12,000, almost 30% less than what it would otherwise sell for.

Speaking at a meeting between the country's premier Albert Ouédraogo and farmers, Inoussa Ouédraogo, Chairman of the country's Agricultural Inputs and Equipment Supply Plant, said the policy had already delivered 27,000 metric tons of subsidized fertilizer, and that the government plans to mobilize at least 50,000 tons, "to enable a huge number of farmers to have access to the inputs".

In recent months, life has become expensive in Burkina Faso, which is seeing a sharp increase in basic goods and fuel prices.

Burkina Faso is Africa's third-biggest producer of cotton, after Benin and Mali.

Its cotton output in the 2020-21 season was 472,000 tons, up 2% from the previous season. Figures from 2021-22 are yet to be released.


Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-08-22 1310ET