admin | March 12, 2026
Two major factors continue to hinder the potential of African agriculture. The first is the degradation of arable land, and the second is the proliferation of crop pests. Soil degradation requires permanent fertilization, while crop pests necessitate the ever-greater use of pesticides.
Fertilizers are chemical substances that promote rapid plant growth and increased agricultural yields. However, their use contributes to soil degradation and negatively impacts human health and the environment. To address these issues, the production and use of organic fertilizers and biopesticides are increasingly recommended. Biopesticides combat attacks on crops by insects, worms, caterpillars, and other predators. These are methods of promoting organic farming.
In Burkina Faso, associations and NGOs promote this type of agriculture, combining soil protection, human and environmental health and sustainable, high-performance farming. One example is the Béo-Neeré agroecology association, which is based in the village of Roumtenga, near Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
In this program, we welcome three guest speakers: Souleymane Bélemgnégré, the president of the association, Hawa Kinda, a vegetable grower in Ouagadougou, and Oumarou Koanda, the owner of a market garden in Koupéla, located a hundred kilometers east of Ouagadougou.
If you intend to produce a program about the manufacture and use of biofertilizers and biopesticides derived from local plants, you may find this script inspiring. If you decide to present it as part of your regular program, you can hire voice actors or hosts to represent the interviewees. Should you do so, please inform your audience at the beginning of the program that these are the voices of actors and actresses, not the actual interviewees.
To create programs on the manufacture and use of local plant-based biofertilizers and biopesticides, talk to a grower, an association leader, and an expert. For example, you could ask your interviewees the following questions:
- What are the harmful effects of the prolonged use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the soil, the environmental and human health?
- What local plants are commonly used to make biofertilizers and biopesticides in Burkina Faso? And how are they processed?
- What challenges are encountered in popularizing organic farming in Burkina Faso, and how does your association respond to them?
Length of program, including intro and extro: 25 to 30 minutes.
https://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-script/agroecology-harnessing-local-plants-to-produce-biofertilizers-and-biopesticides/: Agroecology: Harnessing local plants to produce biofertilizers and biopesticides