The cooperative for the provision of agricultural services – Coobsa (COPSA-C) envisages great prospects during the general assembly held on Thursday March 18, 2024 in Founzan to resolve the deficit recorded in 2023.
The general assembly (AG) of the cooperative for the provision of agricultural services – Coobsa (COPSA-C) was held in the presence of the prefect, president of the special municipal delegation of Founzan and that of Dano.
In addition, active members, representatives of technical services and technical and financial partners took part in this AG. COPSA-C as a cooperative society with a board of directors (SCOOP-CA) has the duty to hold an AGM every year.
During this decision-making body, the board of directors and the supervisory committee presented their assessment report. The technical team in turn presented the technical and financial assessment report for the 2023 financial year. From the financial report, it appears that the cooperative recorded a negative result of 61 million CFA francs.
According to the director of COPSA-C, Félicité Somé / Yaméogo, this deficit is explained by the drop in the price of organic corn and soy, the lack of certification of organic soy production and marketing, the deterioration of more than 21 tons of cowpea due to the problem of conservation and insecurity.
To this, we must add the deep crisis experienced by the cooperative in 2020, explained Ms. Somé. For her, the year 2023 was the real phase of the relaunch of COPSA-C activities.
This is why the proposed perspectives should allow the cooperative to avoid previous errors and give more hope to the 1,500 active members and 5,500 producers at the base, she added.
Among these perspectives we can cite contractualization involving all parties, the search for a better marketing channel for agricultural products, the improvement of the offer of services at the COPSA-C branches, the creation of jobs for women and young people, learning new techniques for preserving cereals, improving production and reforming producti
on techniques through the semi-mechanized system. The involvement of all stakeholders made it possible to identify these solutions to the difficulties encountered. The director was delighted with the confidence reaffirmed by certain partners in COPSA-C. Indeed, ICDE, OKDB-Tuy and FAI2 have decided to support the cooperative through projects. In addition, the technical team invited a mission from the agency for the promotion of community entrepreneurship (APEC) during the AGM.
For the director of community entrepreneurship promotion, Clémence Zoundi, APEC comes to strengthen the achievements of COPSA-C. She wants all active members to be able to subscribe in order to see the establishment of agricultural businesses. This will undoubtedly help them in production, processing and distribution.
The chairman of the board of directors of COPSA-C, Séraphin Hien, thanked all the authorities, partners and collaborators for their fruitful participation in the discussions at this general assembly. As for the director o
f COPSA-C, Félicité Somé, she notes that the negative financial results for 2023 are beyond their control. ‘It’s the perspectives that are important,’ she said.
‘I would like our partners to know that they are dealing with resilient and determined producers. I invite them to come back and see the commitment of our producers and help us move forward,’ she continued. Ms. Somé praised the loyalty with certain partners such as Coris Bank and the NGO CISV.
The PDS of the commune of Founzan, Ouahabou Kaboré, asked the leaders of the cooperative to involve all stakeholders in the development of the rural world in the implementation of the various projects.
Source: Burkina Information Agency