BURKINA FASO: AGROECOLOGY
I am impressed by how massive monoculture has been implemented on the African continent. This large scale plantation often destroys small family economies and threatens the planet's diversity.
Although monoculture has become one of the mantras of agriculture, little by little in recent years, initiatives that protect the environment and boost the family economy are emerging. In Burkina Faso, I had the opportunity to visit one of them, the Beo-Neere farm school. Souleymane Belemgengre, director of the centre, says that agroecology is the future of agriculture, "It takes care of the soil, protects the environment and gives us independence". Souleymane had been working in conventional agriculture all his life. After receiving training from Terre et Humanisme, he started farming organically. Cases like this man are becoming increasingly common on the African continent. Between 2014 and 2017, the percentage of land farmed organically in Africa grew by 33.5%, according to a report presented by IFOAM, an umbrella organisation for organic food in more than 120 countries.
You can watch here the reportage that I did for the Spanish journal El Pais.
