Burkina Faso’s Center for the Promotion of Poultry and the Multiplication of High-Performance Animals (CPAMAP) has opened discussions with Brazil’s Daniel Franco Institute (IDF), an organization known for its expertise in animal selection and sustainable animal farming. CPAMAP hopes this collaboration will strengthen its capabilities in livestock genetic improvement.

CPAMAP Director General Ardiouma Sirima announced these discussions in a statement posted on the Ministry of Agriculture’s website on Tuesday, June 24.

The IDF team has been on a prospecting mission in Burkina Faso since June 20. Their goal is to identify concrete collaboration opportunities to bolster the country's sustainable livestock development. According to Sirima, several avenues were explored during the visit. These include potentially importing high-performance animal breeds from Brazil, acquiring animal semen, and developing large-scale forage crops to enhance livestock nutrition.

Boosting National Herd Productivity and Strategic Sectors

This emerging partnership aims to significantly raise the long-term productivity of Burkina Faso’s national herd. The stakes are particularly high in strategic sectors of the livestock sub-sector, such as milk and the cattle-meat industry. The government has earmarked these areas for both export and self-sufficiency.

For instance, on April 8, the government announced its ambition to begin exporting cattle meat during a Council of Ministers meeting. Additionally, with the launch of the public dairy company Faso Kosam on March 27, the objective is to eventually cover half of the country’s milk and dairy product consumption needs.

However, a significant productivity gap remains. A 2018 GIZ study revealed that the annual milk production per dairy cow in Burkina Faso was estimated at between 200 and 500 liters. In comparison, the average productivity of a dairy cow in Brazil, across all breeds combined, is approximately 2,500 to 3,000 liters per year, which is more than five times higher.