Marie-Hélène Dabat

Energy efficiency and waste reuse: A solution for sustainability in poor West African countries? Case study of the shea butter supply chain in Burkina Faso

In West African countries, the objective of producer insertion in competitive markets is often associated with the need to modernize and mechanize production processes, i.e., replace labour by machines. This excludes traditional producers who can barely comply with the economic criteria but who must remain competitive to generate higher incomes. The challenge is to improve the efficiency of traditional methods in supply chains rather than imposing modern technologies that producers hardly adopt. Moreover, West African populations suffer from not having cheap and available energy sources. They, therefore, have to be imaginative for more efficient energy use in order to improve the productivity and quality of their products and support sustainable rural development and incomes. Building on the case study of the shea butter supply chain in Burkina Faso, this article proposes an original approach consisting of improved energy use for a more competitive and sustainable activity. The traditional butter producti...

Action publique et politiques de diversification du mix énergétique vers les énergies renouvelables en Afrique de l’Ouest. Focus sur le cas des agrocarburants au Burkina Faso

Diversification of the energy mix in the direction of renewable energy is a key policy objective in Burkina Faso. Still, this objective has given rise to sectoral policies and programs developed without concerted or consistent effort, with little concern for their implementation, and which are isolated in the overall interplay of public actions in the field of energy.