Terra Madre Burkina Faso will take place on February 3 and 4, 2017 in Ouagadougou. The event is organized by Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity as part of the Fondazioni For Africa Burkina Faso initiative. It will bring together small Burkinabe and international farmers with producers, cooks, researchers, students, agronomists, journalists, artists and consumers, to promote what President Thomas Sankara advocated 30 years ago: “Let’s produce what we need naturally, and let’s consume naturally what we produce!”.
The event will see the launch of two new Slow Food Presidia: they are projects which support quality productions at risk of extinction; protect unique regions and ecosystems; recover traditional processing methods; and safeguard native breeds and local plant varieties.
The market stands will allow visitors to discover Slow Food projects and a selection of products of the Terra Madre food communities in Burkina Faso. There will be manufacturers from the forest of Comoé-Léraba and Red Rice of Banfora, the cheesemakers of Peul and Arbole Yam producers, the Boyaba and Tapoa communities, Garango Shea Butter Producers, the Watinoma association, La Saisonnière Educational Garden producers, the community garden producers of Yako and other participating gardens in the project 10,000 Gardens in Africa project.
Burkina Faso has 124 community, family and school gardens, and about 20 products listed on the Ark of Taste – the Slow Food catalog of endangered food products to be safeguarded. During Terra Madre Burkina Faso, the Ark of Taste project will be at the center of a themed tour that will invite visitors to discover the value of local biodiversity. A Taste Workshop will also be organized to educate the senses and compare different types of food production.
The Slow Food network in Africa is active in 46 countries, and works in order to safeguard food biodiversity and support public awareness campaigns, such as those against GMOs, land grabbing and intensive farming.
In Africa there are currently 2608 Slow Food gardens, 321 food communities, 392 African products listed on the Ark of Taste, 40 Presidia, 3 Earth Markets, and 3 countries involved in the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance (Uganda, Kenya, Egypt).
Behind these figures there is a network made up of thousands of farmers, herders, fishermen, cooks, students, teachers and technicians. A network that grows, exchanges experiences, and is committed to safeguarding biodiversity and affirming the right to food sovereignty.
Last September, 384 African delegates attended Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2016. Moreover, numerous initiatives have been organized in December to celebrate Terra Madre Day. The Slow Food network in Africa met in 2016 in Ethiopia , Kenya and Uganda. Terra Madre Burkina Faso will be the first opportunity in 2017 to support the work of producers and Slow Food coordinators in Burkina Faso and surrounding countries.
Slow Food protects biodiversity with projects around the world. To continue this work, we need everyone’s help and participation. http://donate.slowfood.com/en/
For further information, please contact:
Slow Food coordinator for West Africa: Typhaine Briand – [email protected]
Responsible of the event communication in Burkina Faso: Jean Victor Ouedraogo [email protected]
Slow Food International Press Office: [email protected] – Twitter: @SlowFoodPress
Terra Madre Burkina Faso is organized by Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity as part of the Fondazioni for Africa Burkina Faso initiative funded by 28 Italian bank foundations associated with the ACRI and in collaboration with ACRA-CCS, CISV, LVIA, MANI TESE, and CeSPI.
Slow Food is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. Slow Food involves over a million activists, chefs, experts, youth, farmers, fishers and academics in over 160 countries. Among them, a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members are linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide, contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize. As part of the network, more than 2,400 Terra Madre food communities practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.