GARBAL is ready to launch in Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso, 8 July 2019 – The MODHEM (Mobile Data for Moving Herds Management and Better Incomes) project in Burkina Faso led by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, aims to improve agro-pastoralists households’ food security through improved access and use of geo-satellite data. Active since 2016, this four-year project funded by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and through the Geodata for Agriculture and Water Facility (G4AW) targets 100,000 pastoral households and 200,000 farming households in the Boucle du Mouhoun, Cascades, Hauts-Bassins, East, Central West, North and Sahel regions. In partnership with ORANGE-Burkina Faso and the Ministry of Animal and Fish Resources the project officially launches GARBAL, a service that facilitates the access to information for pastoralists herd migration mobility, agro-meteorological data and agricultural commodities and livestock’ prices for decision making.
The context
The consequences of climate change and insecurity affect pastoralists’ mobility. Their traditional ways of prospecting natural resources to decide on transhumance are then random, expensive and risky. Yet livestock mobility in drylands is essential for their survival and a key factor in pastoral populations’ food security.
Similarly, to the GARBAL service initiated in Mali in 2017 by SNV, MODEHM has designed a tailor-made information service to meet pastoralists and farmers needs in order to support their decision-making and provide them with more predictability. This service will offer instant access to reliable information on biomass and water availability, agro-meteorological data and the prices of livestock and many other agricultural commodities on the markets. It will be available through a call center and by text messages that can be accessed on mobile phones at 777 for a cost of 30 FCFA / min.
The launching
GARBAL information service launch was marked by the Minister of Animal and Fish Resources, Mr. Sommanogo KOUTOU visit in Ouagadougou’s call center today. On June 21st the launching ceremony will take place in Boromo with the presence of Mr. Maarten Rusch, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ Chargé d'affaires in Burkina Faso, SNV’s Country Director, Mrs. Jeanette de Regt, ORANGE Burkina Faso’s Director, Mr. Ben Cheick Haidara, the Governor of the Region, Mr. Sié Edgard Sou, and the locality’s Mayor.
A public-private partnership
MODHEM is the result of a public-private partnership funded by the Netherlands Space Office, implemented by SNV Burkina and accompanied with the management and commercial development of the call center and USSD service by ORANGE Burkina Faso. Satellite data are also processed and stored by Satelligence, and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) provides agro-meteorological data through the Agrhymet Center. Concurrently, SNV and Burkina Faso's Ministry of Animal and Fisheries Resources are working together to ensure that the provided information correspond to pastoralists and farmers’ realities, needs and aspirations.
About SNV
Established in the Netherlands since 1965, SNV is an international non-profit development organisation with 50 years of intervention in developing countries. Currently active in 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, SNV is dedicated to a society where all people, regardless of their race, social status or gender, have the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development.
Known for its strong ability to implement and administer complex and large-scale programs, the organisation manages a portfolio of activities worth 130 million € /year. It is through the implementation of projects, advisory services, knowledge networks and advocacy that SNV's experts build the capacity of local communities, businesses and organisations to improve their proactivity and to help them contribute to the reduction of extreme poverty and good governance.
The organisation mainly focuses on Agriculture, Renewable energy,Water Hygiene and Sanitation issues the global challenges that are closely linked to climate change effects and that strongly affect vulnerable populations’ opportunities. SNV has been in Burkina Faso since 1970 and has offices in Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso and Fada N'Gourma.
Contact:
Communication Officer
Samuel Bacyé
(+226) 76 60 30 59
sbacye@snv.org