4AF - The Association des Actueurs en Agro-Alimentaire de Formation

The Association des Actueurs en Agro-Alimentaire de Formation, in abbreviation 4AF, was created in 2011 in Burkina Faso. It has been created by agri-food students, with the support of professionals, public researchers and academia. The Association has been created with the vision and objectives to:

·      create a permanent cadre of communication for the agri-food sector’s participants;

·      promote the development of the agri-food sector by:

Ø  training and promotion ;

Ø  project writing as well as their implementation;

Ø  organisations of Agri-Food Days ; and

Ø  creation of an exchange with food industries and agri-food transformation units.

Since 2013-14, the Association has been dormant but is now in the process of reviving itself and getting researchers and academia more involved.

The motto of 4AF is: Union - Professionalism - Competitivety.

Overview of Food Science and Technology in the Country − Major Issues, Success Stories from Farm to Table

In Burkina Faso, the food science and technology sector is not well-developed, though in expansion in recent years. The Government has put in place policies to regulate creation of agri-food units.

Major Issues

One of the major issues faced nationwide is the lack of competent trained personnel in the sector. Most participants and owners of agri-food units do not have a professional / academic background in food science and technology. Another issue faced nationwide is how to efficiently leverage the level of the current personnel to make the transformation units more competitive and provide safer products to consumers.

Nonetheless, local organisations support agri-food units by either providing technical / technological support and / or training or by the establishment of national food standards and ensuring quality control and inspection of products, goods and services. Those organisations are respectively:

·      IRSAT/ DTA: Institut de Recherche en Sciences Appliquées et Technologies/ Département Technologie Alimentaire (Institute of Research in the Science and Application of Technologies / Department of Food Technology); and

·      ABNORM : Agence Burkinabé de Normalisation, de la Métrologie et de la Qualité (Burkina Faso Standardisation, Metrology and Quality Agency).

Success Stories from Farm to Table

A company specialised in transforming local fruits into beverages has been thriving for the past ten years. The company, DAFANI SA has been producing orange, pineapple and mango juices and cocktails from concentrates. DAFANI’s success is a real lifebuoy to the fruits and vegetables industry of Burkina Faso that produces 400,000 t/year and involves more than 30,000 workers. DAFANI not only reduces postharvest losses but also provides quality fruit juices to many countries in West Africa (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali).