Conflit sur la terre : affrontements dans la province de Bales -23 juillet 2011

Burkina Faso Cotton Farmers Destroy 450 Hectares in Clashes Over Planting

bloomberg.com

By Simon Gongo – Jul 25, 2011

Farmers in Burkina Faso destroyed more than 450 hectares (1,112 acres) of cotton by digging up fields in an attempt to force a boycott of this year’s harvest, Radio Burkina reported, citing Laurent Sedogo, agriculture minister.

Sedogo was meeting with farmers in the Bales province, 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Ouagadougou, the capital, to find a resolution to the dispute, the state-owned broadcaster reported today.

Burkina Faso’s cotton-planting season, which runs in June and July, has been marred by farmers’ boycotts over prices they say are too low and later-than-normal seasonal rains. The West African nation is the biggest grower of the fiber in sub- Saharan Africa.

One person was killed and five others injured when a farmer allegedly opened fire on growers who were trying to dig up plants on his field on July 23, said Maiza Compaore Sereme, the state prosecutor in Boromo, the capital of Bales province, by phone today. Sixty people were arrested, she said.

The farmers who were destroying fields have now pledged to halt their protests, said Karim Traore, president of the country’s national union of cotton producers, by phone after the meeting with Sedogo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Gongo in Ouagadougou via Accra atebowers1@bloomberg.net.