Ouagadougou: The Burkinabè Youth Parliament for Water (PNJBE) organized on February 22, 2024 in Komsilga on the occasion of the 7th edition of the International Exhibition of Agriculture, Environment and livestock (SIAEL), a panel on intergenerational dialogue under the theme: the agrosylvopastoral sector concerned with the sustainable management of water resources and a source of employability for young people.
As part of the activities of the 7th edition of the International Exhibition of Agriculture, Environment and Livestock (SIAEL) 2024, the Burkinabè Youth Parliament for Water (PNJBE), organized a panel on intergenerational dialogue.
Placed under the theme ‘The agrosilvopastoral sector concerned with the sustainable management of water resources and a source of employability for young people’, three communications were presented.
According to the Dutch ambassador to Burkina Faso, Esther Johanna Elisabeth Loeffen, the fact that her country is a major exporter in the field of agriculture is linked abov
e all to the fact that it has rivers and factories which are next to.
She indicated that the Netherlands developed this with Europe and in addition to having a large port and a large airport, ‘it made it easier for us to do precise production sometimes at lower cost’.
‘I also said during the conference that it also poses problems because it weighs on the climate. So we have work to do to be able to follow the conditions and measures agreed within the framework of the COP,’ she added.
For Ms. Loeffen, we must always start at the base, where small production is located, so that agriculture can have an impact on rural households.
The Dutch ambassador spoke about having agricultural companies that can do big things but also involve small ones.
‘We are in the process of supporting Burkina Faso, especially the actors who are at the rural level, we are going to assist them, train them for a connection with a more effective system,’ she continued.
The second communication spoke about the contribution of actors
in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector to the sustainable and efficient management of water resources, presented the specialist in capacity building of actors in integrated water resources management and actors in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector , by Michel Yameogo.
He first cited the consequences of climate change and insecurity on resources.
Yameogo specifies that this is the basis of the problems that Burkina Faso and the Sahel have, in the sense that climate change leads to a loss of water resources from the point of view of quality and quantity as well as insecurity. .
‘Regarding the contribution of actors in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector to the management of water resources, we have developed the fact that these actors constitute the majority of consumers and that the sector alone consumes 60% of the amount of water available,’ Mr. Yameogo explained.
He urged stakeholders to be very careful about the use of water resources and avoid wasting them.
Michel Yameogo mentioned that other actors also need wate
r resources for consumption, industry and tourism.
He deplored the degradation of the quality of water resources such as pollution linked to agricultural activity and livestock breeding and proposed strategic solutions that can be applied in the face of this.
The expert in business development of non-wood forest products, Ludovic Konditamdé, in his communication, addressed a theme for young people to become more involved in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector.
‘We tried to demonstrate that this is a virtually unknown sector, information is not sufficiently shared and young people are faced with an education problem. They are only informed in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector. Many young people who are in rural areas think that they are doing worthless jobs, those who are in the city think that these are neglected jobs,’ declared Mr. Konditamdé.
He says that with the inter-professions and the production links ‘If you don’t want to do production, you have to do the processing, you don’t want to do the processing, y
ou have to do the marketing’.
The expert in business development for non-timber forest products explains that there are links that provide money today and that you just have to specialize.
‘But what is the problem to get involved, you have to train, have the necessary knowledge, you have to be supported in terms of coaching for at least 3 months,’ he concluded.
As a reminder, the 7th edition of SIAEL took place from February 20 to 27, 2024 in the rural commune of Komsilga under the theme ‘Impact of the security crisis on the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector: inventory and perspectives’ with as guest country of honor Mali.
Source: Burkina Information Agency