24 November 2022
Food systems Nutrition and health Agricultural sectors Food safety Nutrition

Milk and school canteens: improving income and food security in Bobo-Dioulasso

Actualité

In Burkina Faso, livestock farming employs 30 % of the working-age population and contributes almost 20 % to the country’s GDP. Yet, the local milk market remains underdeveloped, despite the nutritional qualities  of milk and the income-generating opportunities it could provide for family farms.

In this context, GRET has been developing the Milk and school canteens (LaitCol) initiative since September 2022. Its objective: contribute to improving income and food security and nutrition security in the dairy basin around Bobo-Dioulasso (a commune in the Hauts-Bassins region in Burkina Faso). Through support for production, collection, processing and better access to dairy product markets, particularly school canteens, this project intends to create new employment opportunities for livestock farming families and strengthen these particularly vulnerable populations’ resilience (especially for women, children and young adults). These actions will also contribute to the fight against malnutrition by improving the nutritive and sanitary quality of local milk, diversifying food in schools, better distribution and availability of dairy products,  and increased consumption of the latter by households.

Co-funded by the Principality of Monaco and the Pafao, the LaitCol project is being conducted in partnership with the commune of Bobo-Dioulasso and stakeholders in the value chain, mainly made up of family farms organised in cooperatives. These partnerships favour territorial anchorage and local ownership of the project, from which 800 family farms, 150 milk collectors, 60 processing units, 10,000 pupils and 250 teachers will benefit.