When translated, Burkina Faso means “the land of honest people”. It is one of the poorest countries of the world, is over 274,000 km2 in size and is situated in the centre of West Africa. The climate there is tropical and changeable, meaning that there are extremes of dryness and rain with extensive flooding. The average temperatures are between 25 °C and 30 °C.

French is still the official language in the former French colony. In daily life, a multi-tude of regional languages and even Arabic is spoken in the country. The country is known for having a certain level of social stability which originates from the cultural diversity of its people of different ethnici-ties who live peacefully together.

Burkina Faso has a turbulent past. With the adoption of the constitution in 1991,

cotton is of international interest, which requires large expanses of intensive mon-ocultures and encourages the degradation of the land.

By contrast, reforestation activities immensely improve ground quality and form the basis for diverse vegetation. The ground and climate conditions are ideal for acacia, date, mango, baobab and also eucalyptus trees.

the “Fourth Republic” was set up accord-ing to the French model. The country’s opposition, however, is split up into numerous small parties. Democratisation and human rights are also topics of cur-rent importance today.

90% of the over 18 million inhabitants make their living from farming, but mostly only do enough to meet their own needs. The export of peanuts and

MorgenLand Project

Mangoes from Burkina Faso

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Today, there are over 1000 mango varie-ties (mangifera indica) located in the tropical rain forest between India and the Philippines, which all vary according to shape, size and taste. However, they all have one thing in common: they grow on an evergreen mango tree which, in certain cases, can even reach a height of 45 metres. The ripe fruit can weigh up to 2 kg and along with the flat stone core, which is also used to produce oil, they have thin smooth skin. This can cause allergic skin reactions, as it contains sub-stances which are intended to repel her-bivores. In Burkina Faso, the varieties Amelie, Brooks and Kent are primarily cultivated. 12 to 15 kg of raw materials are required to produce 1kg of dried Amelie mangoes, for the Brooks variety this is 18 to 25 kg.

The fruit colouring ranges from green to yellow to red. The ripe fruit may even have black spots, is soft and aromatic.

The evergreen mango tree and its fruit

Compact fruity energy supplierWith their slightly sour fruity smell, dried mangoes are suitable both as a snack for in between meals and also as an ingredient in muesli, salads, smoothies or desserts. The consistency of the fruits can be altered by softening them in water.

Dried mangoes have a particularly high nutrient concentration as a result of the removal of water. They are a rich source of Vitamin E and also contain beta-caro-tene. Beta-carotene is not just a deter-mining factor for the orange colour of the fruit pulp, but also part of it is con-verted to essential vitamin A in the human body. In addition to this, dried mango

pieces are a good source of potassium and magnesium. Both of these mineral nutrients play a part in essential human bodily functions. While potassium plays an important role in our nervous systems and is responsible for maintaining its normal functioning, magnesium supports processes like energy metabolism, protein synthesis, maintaining healthy teeth and bones and proper electrolyte balance. In general, magnesium helps reduce tired-ness and physical exhaustion.

MorgenLand Project

Mangoes from Burkina Faso

Groupe WAKAIn the Moré language, “Waka” means “welcome”. Fogué Kouduahou, who founded and runs Groupe WAKA with headquarters in Ouagadougou, is married and has four children. He grew up in Bur-kina Faso and completed an eight year degree in Moscow as a “technical food processing engineer”. After this, he returned to Burkina Faso and for 12 years, worked as a technical advisor for the Centre Ecologique Albert Schweitzer (CEAS).

The CEAS is a Swiss NGO which shares technical expertise to help in the fight against poverty in Africa, and is involved in developing and spreading innovative technologies. Its focuses are in the fields of craftsmanship, renewable energy, water and waste management, sustainable farm-ing practices and food processing.

Fogué Kouduahou specialised in the pro-cessing of organic mangoes and the

hygiene regulations connected to this. His business plan involves persuading small farmers to cultivate mangoes in line with organic standards and to process these in accordance with his specifications, so that they can be exported.

The Groupe WAKA company was founded in 2009. There are now five groups of farmers who cultivate mangoes on an area of a total size of 300 hectares.

For the Amelie variety, harvest time is in April and May, for the Brooks variety from June until the end of July. In this time, up

to 200 people – the majority of whom are female – work on the associated mango farms and harvest the half ripened man-goes in order to then transport them via lorry up to 600 km away to Ouagadougou.

WAKA has operated its own processing facility there since 2011, and since then has also had a close business relationship with MorgenLand. The organic mangoes are stored for a short period until they are completely ripe, before they are sorted, peeled, sliced and then dried in a gas-pow-ered drying facility for approx. 12 hours. When dried, ripe mangoes can be very dark and have a naturally sweet flavour which does not need further sweetening.

The processing facility’s integrated qual-ity management system is in line with MorgenLand’s requirements relating to organic standards and HACCP, and is being further developed in line with IFS. This represents exceptional service when the present infrastructure in Burkina Faso is considered.

The dried organic mangoes are packed into boxes after quality control, trans-ported via train in a maritime container to the coast, and from there shipped to Germany. At MorgenLand after a compre-hensive incoming inspection, which also includes organoleptic testing, the mango pieces are then filled in containers as MorgenLand mangoes 100 g and 200 g and delivered to the organic markets.

Organic mangoes are peeled.

Filling the transportation boxes for the journey to the processing facility.

ML-Ed.: “In 2009, you founded Groupe WAKA, what is the story behind this?”

Fogué Kouduahou: “Based on my pro-fessional experience, it was an obvious move to venture into the world of self-em-ployment at some point. People here need guides to show them new ways to establish themselves in a global world.”

ML-Ed.: “Is Burkina Faso now also part of the global world?”

Fogué Kouduahou: “Yes, the agricul-tural industry is now also focusing its attentions on Africa. The combination of local ground conditions with the right extra treatment is adequate for growing peanuts and cotton. Of course this doesn’t involve sustainable farming though.”

ML-Ed.: “What does sustainable farming mean to you?”

Fogué Kouduahou: “Any type of farming which doesn’t destroy natural means of subsistence, which contributes towards improving ground quality and therefore also promotes biodiversity. Improving top-soil by compost preparation and planting trees are important elements of sustaina-ble farming here.”

ML-Ed.: “Which I take it is why Groupe WAKA produces organic mangoes!”

Fogué Kouduahou: “Yes, ultimately, this is the reason why. Ecological farming is sustainable farming, and the certifica-tion process means that the higher level of effort involved is also honoured in the price.”

ML-Ed.: “How did the relationship with MorgenLand arise?”

Fogué Kouduahou: “In 2010, I ran into Kees Maris, MorgenLand’s Project Man-ager, at an international food trade fair. We got talking and realised that our

focus was on the same objectives. This was the beginning of a very successful partnership.

One year later, things had progressed so far that the first dried organic mangoes in line with European quality standards had been delivered to MorgenLand. The assured purchase of raw materials pro-vides us with stable business foundations in order to be able to further extend the project here on site.”

ML-Ed.: “What are your future goals?”

Fogué Kouduahou: “I would like Groupe WAKA to continue to successfully develop and for us to convert more and more farm-ers to organic farming methods and be able to involve them in our project.”

ML-Ed.: “Thank you for the interview!”

Fogué Kouduahou (links) und Kees Maris

MorgenLand Project

Mangoes from Burkina Faso

Interviewwith Fogué Kouduahou

EgeSun GmbHAn der Autobahn 28 D-28876 Oyten Germany Tel. +49 4207 6884 - 60 Fax +49 4207 6884 - 61www.morgenland.bio

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