Burkina Faso: Tougan farmers sell maize at a loss as debt mounts
A bitter reality behind Burkina Faso’s sovereignty discourse
In Tougan, the observation is stark. Beyond the rhetoric of sovereignty, industrialisation, and national production, agricultural producers state that they continue to confront a far less glorious reality alone: selling their harvests at a loss, repaying their credits, and, at times, considering crossing the border to survive.
“Last year, maize yielded well. They capped the price, and producers made no profit. This year, others will cross the border because of the credits,” reports a testimony from Tougan. A situation captured by a particularly telling phrase: “The producer weeps when harvests are good, and he weeps when harvests are bad.”
This contradiction raises a fundamental question: where has the priority granted to those who feed the nation gone?
Industrial symbols versus immediate agricultural distress
Since assuming power, Ibrahim Traoré has regularly emphasised local production, economic sovereignty, and Burkina Faso’s capacity to manufacture certain equipment itself. Announcements regarding industrial units, notably those intended for the army’s needs, occupy a significant place in this communication.
Yet an economy cannot be reduced to its factories or military equipment.
While new industrial capacities are presented as symbols of sovereignty, farmers remain confronted with far more immediate problems: insufficient purchase prices, indebtedness, uncertain markets, and low profitability of harvests.
Producing more only makes sense if the producer can also live from their work.
The broader crisis of agricultural investment
The problem in Tougan thus extends beyond the simple case of maize. It raises the question of agricultural investment. Which entrepreneur will durably accept investing in a sector where a good harvest can cause prices to fall to the point of ruining the producer, while a bad harvest exposes them directly to debt?
This is precisely one of the major blind spots of the sovereignty narrative: a nation does not become economically independent solely because it manufactures its own weapons. It must also be capable of securing the incomes of those who produce its food.
The paradox is brutal. Burkina Faso wants to produce its equipment locally, yet some agricultural producers still seem to be seeking how to sell their own production without losing their investment.
The overlooked reality of fields, granaries, and rural families
By consistently highlighting images of factories, machines, and military equipment, the authorities risk leaving in the shadows another reality: that of fields, granaries, credits, and rural families awaiting concrete solutions.
Sovereignty is not measured only by what a state can manufacture for its army. It is also measured by its capacity to protect those who, every morning, place a seed in the ground to feed the nation.
In Tougan, the question is therefore not how many factories Burkina Faso can inaugurate. The question is simpler, and probably more urgent: how much longer can the producer work without earning a living?
