Tere-Dia (Taste of the sun)

About Solution

Burkina Faso’s economy, like many other developing countries, relies strongly on agriculture. Due to a lack of reliable and competitive energy sources, processing of agricultural products remains at the cottage industrial stage particularly in rural areas, with a very low efficiency resulting in considerable production losses. But in macroeconomic terms, the most important loss consists in the gap between the economic potentials (available raw products, uncovered demand) and the realized actual incomes collected by this particular industry.

An environmentally sound economic development is feasible in Africa through intensified agriculture and access to appropriate food processing solutions.

The traditional cereals, the gardening products and the wild fruits and leaves are less and less transformed in the households for use in the family diet. There is a strong local demand for processed products which would meet the increasing standards in terms of quality, hygienic and nutritional requirements. There is equally a strong demand for high quality groceries on export markets, where access is totally dependent on the fulfilment of norms and standards. Even with a smaller volume, the incomes generated by export would be important for the agri-food producers and for the economy of the country.

We can clearly see that the lack of energy in the countryside, as well as the cost of energy for the all country, is a heavy hindrance for the development of the food processing. On the other hand we see that the all year around availability of solar energy as well as the big quantity of non-usable agro residues are not valorised.

This full-sized pilot project aims to demonstrate the economic and technological viability of a renewable energy-based food processing plant, and open new sales opportunity for local farmers, as it can greatly increase the value of the harvest through processing to refined products. The use of solar energy and own production residues instead of firewood, grid electricity or fossil fuel, makes the project fully sustainable and in line with climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. This unit is flexible and can be applied to many agricultural products. The concept was nominated as Finalist at the Development Marketplace by the World Bank in 2006.

The main output of this project is a full-size food processing unit based on locally available renewable energy that will demonstrate his technical feasibility as well as his economic viability in order to encourage local entrepreneurs in using the renewable energy sources for income generating activities.

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