Burkina Faso ranks as the sixth poorest country in the world according to the 2015 UN Human Development Report. Recent studies estimate that 46.4% of the population in the Eastern Region lives below the poverty line. These people are caught in a vicious cycle of degrading natural resources, declining soil fertility, and increasing hunger. In the past farmers used to fallow their land for 10-20 years to restore soil fertility, and clear new land to plant. This is no longer possible due to the increased population of people and livestock. In this incredibly challenging context, farmers, local NGOs, and agricultural researchers in Burkina Faso have tested and adapted a number of effective agroecological farming practices over the last 30 years that have proven capable of restoring soil fertility and increasing food production for smallholder farmers.

Association Nourrir sans Détruire (ANSD) is a NGO in Burkina Faso working to strengthen rural communities to overcome hunger and promote socio-economic development. To test and spread effective agroecological practices, ANSD collaborates closely with farmers’ organizations, local NGOs, the National Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA), local government officials, and traditional leaders. ANSD believes that farmers and community-based organizations must lead in their own development, and works to strengthen their capacity to do so in sustainable ways. The most critical point is that the approach to scaling agroecology does not transfer a pre-determined package of technologies. Instead, ANSD works with farmers to identify a “basket” of potential innovations, fosters farmer experimentation and farmer-to-farmer exchange on key agroecology principles and practices, and enables each household to apply the combination of practices that best suits their circumstances.