At Tougan, Burkina Faso’s maize farmers sell at a loss and face debts as food sovereignty falters

In Tougan, the reality is stark. Behind the rhetoric of sovereignty, industrialisation and domestic production, agricultural producers say they are still facing a far less flattering truth alone: selling their harvests at a loss, repaying their loans, and sometimes considering crossing the border to survive.

A bitter season for maize growers

“Last year, the maize did well. They capped the price, and the producers made no profit. This year, others will cross the border because of the loans,” reports a testimony from Tougan. The situation is summed up by a particularly telling phrase: “The producer weeps when the harvest is good, and he weeps when the harvest is bad.”

The gap between discourse and reality

This contradiction raises a fundamental question: where has the priority given to those who feed the country gone?

Since coming to power, Ibrahim Traoré has regularly highlighted local production, economic sovereignty and Burkina Faso’s ability to manufacture certain equipment itself. Announcements about industrial units, particularly those intended for the army’s needs, occupy a prominent place in this communication.

But an economy cannot be reduced to its factories or its military equipment.

Immediate challenges for farmers

While new industrial capacities are presented as symbols of sovereignty, farmers remain confronted with much more immediate problems: insufficient purchase prices, indebtedness, uncertain outlets and low profitability of harvests.

Producing more only makes sense if the producer can also live from his work.

The Tougan case: a symptom of a deeper malaise

The problem in Tougan therefore goes beyond the simple case of maize. It raises the question of agricultural investment. What entrepreneur will durably accept to invest in a sector where a good harvest can drive prices down to the point of ruining the producer, while a bad harvest exposes him directly to debt?

This is precisely where one of the major blind spots of the sovereignty narrative lies: a nation does not become economically independent solely because it manufactures its own weapons. It must also be able to secure the incomes of those who produce its food.

A brutal paradox

The paradox is brutal. Burkina wants to produce its equipment locally, but some agricultural producers still seem to be looking for ways to sell their own production without losing their investment.

By constantly highlighting images of factories, machines and military equipment, the authorities risk leaving in the shadows another reality: that of fields, granaries, loans and rural families waiting for concrete solutions.

Sovereignty beyond armaments

Sovereignty is not measured only by what a state can manufacture for its army. It is also measured by its capacity to protect the one who, every morning, puts a seed in the ground to feed the nation.

In Tougan, the question is therefore not how many factories Burkina can inaugurate. The question is simpler, and probably more urgent: how much longer can the producer work without earning a living?

By Claire Mvondo — Expert sécutiré et politique d’état