Unexpected strawberry crop spins Burkina’s ‘red gold’
OUAGADOUGOU: In the suburbs of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, lucrative strawberry farming is supplanting traditional crops like cabbage and lettuce and has become a top export to neighbouring countries.
Prized as “red gold” in the Sahel, strawberry crops brought in some 2.0 billion CFA francs ($3.3 million) from 2019 to 2020, according to agricultural support programme PAPEA.
In their January to April season, strawberries “take the place of other crops”, Yiwendenda Tiemtore, a farmer in the workingclass Boulmiougou district on the city outskirts, said.
Tiemtore has been busy harvesting the red fruit since dawn, before temperatures rise to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). He harvests about 25 to 30 kilogrammes (55-66 pounds) of Burkina’s popular strawberry varieties, “selva” and “camarosa”, every three days, watering his plots from wells.
Cultivating strawberries, which thrive on ample sunlight and water, might come as a surprise in this semi-arid West African country. But Burkina Faso leads the region’s strawberry production, growing about 2,000 tonnes a year.
Despite being prized by local customers, more than half is exported to neighbouring countries.
“We receive orders from abroad, particularly from Ivory Coast, Niger and Ghana,” said market gardener Madi Compaore, who specialises in strawberries and trains local growers. “Demand is constantly rising and the prices are good.”
In season, strawberries tend to be sold at a higher price than other fruit and vegetables, fetching 3,000 CFA francs ($5.0) per kilogramme. Production has remained strong despite insecurity in the country, including from militant violence and the repercussions of two coups in 2022.
As well as in Ouagadougou, strawberry production is prominent in Bobo-dioulasso — Burkina’s second city — even though “the sector’s not very well organised” there, Compaore said. “You might think it’s an oddity to grow strawberries in a Sahelian country like Burkina Faso but it’s been a fixture since the 1970s,” Compaore added.