Case study Identity Card

Long title: Fonio huller/whitener, Improving fonio postharvest technology
Geographical coverage: Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, Orodara, Nouna, Bomborokuy)
Mali (Bamako, Ségou, San, Bougouni, Koulikoro)
Case study team: Thierry Ferré (CIRAD, Innovation), Jean François Cruz (CIRAD, Qualisud), Marie-Hélène Dabat (CIRAD, Art-dev), Matthieu Chtioui (Istom, intern)
Years covered: 1990-2015

Case study description

The innovation under study: a huller to boost the fonio value chain in West Africa, overview of a lengthy process

Fonio, a traditional crop grown in West Africa, has been in inexorable decline since the 1980s. Hulling by hand is onerous, and whitening and cleaning are very time-consuming; this small grain was thus doomed to disappear. The only solution was therefore to mechanise its processing. Teams from CIRAD and its African partners turned their attention to this problem and developed a specific huller, which would revolutionise fonio processing and boost its production. The key to this success: involving all stakeholders from the outset in the design and evaluation of equipment.

In the 1980s, fonio cultivation was in decline in West Africa. Indeed, this traditional cereal crop had a bad reputation. The very small size of its grain made hulling and whitening a time-consuming, tedious operation for women, who used mortars and pestles for this task. With modest yields and the difficulty of processing it, this crop was gradually abandoned.

However, fonio has numerous advantages in a region still affected by food shortages, where cereals are the staple food. It is a crop that can be grown during the hunger gap and, for varieties with a short cycle, can be harvested before other cereals. It is also an undemanding plant that can play a role in strategies for adaptation to droughts, which are an increasing threat in the Sahel region.

Mechanisation to revive fonio

In the early 1990s, a group of female managers of small cereal processing businesses in Mali and Burkina Faso described to CIRAD researchers the difficulties they encountered with fonio. According to them, the only way to halt the decline of this crop was to find a way to mechanise the hulling and whitening process.

After several unconvincing attempts with a huller developed for millet and sorghum, the researchers decided to design a bespoke machine for fonio, in collaboration with their colleagues in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. It was called the GMBF huller (for Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, France).

GMBF, a bespoke huller

The GMBF huller is based on a principle used in rice hulling. It is manufactured according to specifications determined with users, who set out the performances they expected from it: a hulling-whitening rate of 60 to 100 kilos per hour, a yield after processing of between 60 and 65%, and a rate of unhulled grain after machine processing of less than 0.5%.

In the early 2000s, a first prototype was produced and tested at CIRAD in Montpellier. This was the basis on which the huller manufacturing process was launched with manufacturers in Mali.

From the prototype to the commercial huller

The next part of the process took place in Mali between CIRAD, IER and private sector stakeholders: the equipment manufacturer IMAF in Bamako contributed to producing various prototypes, which were tested in four fonio processing businesses in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. The huller was then optimised with the help of researchers in the local manufacturers’ workshops.

At the end of these trials, a GMBF huller set up at IER in Bamako was used for service provision and also to train a number of processors. These activities helped to spread the word about the huller in Mali and the sub-region.

More than 150 machines sold

The development organisations then got involved to promote and disseminate the huller. From 2010 onwards in Mali, a number of NGOs and development programmes began to subsidise the purchase of hullers by processors, and several retailers also purchased machines in order to offer their services. Since 2004, when the GMBF huller was first marketed, the companies IMAF and SIPS have sold more than 150 hullers mainly in Mali, but also in Burkina Faso and other parts of the region.

Processors, the main beneficiaries of the innovation

What impact has this innovation had on all of the actors in the sector? What benefits have they derived from it? This was the focus of the impact analysis conducted according to the ImpresS methodology in 2015 by researchers from CIRAD and its partners, based on interviews with the different actors in the sector.

The first impact noted was an increase in the quantities of fonio processed and an improvement in quality. For the processors who were involved in the design of the huller, the annual production of fonio, which was just a few tonnes prior to 2002, now runs into tens or even hundreds of tonnes in order to meet growing demand for fonio on the national market, but also for export.

Generally speaking, the processors in Bamako have seen their income increase and their business develop after purchasing a huller. The 11 processing businesses studied currently derive 60 to 80% of their turnover from fonio and have created around 100 jobs. Some of them also provide services to businesses that do not own hullers.

Strengthened capacities, better reputations

As for the equipment manufacturers IMAF and SIPS, their capacities have been strengthened thanks to the training they received throughout the process. They have appropriated all stages involved in the manufacturing of the huller and its use, but, above all, they have acquired autonomy and the capacity to innovate. Their reputation has also improved in the agri-food equipment sector and their turnover has increased.

Anticipating the boom in fonio cultivation

Although the impact of the innovation on fonio producers is more difficult to evaluate, the individual interviews and group meetings conducted in Mali and Burkina Faso show that 80% of the producers interviewed in villages equipped with a huller have increased the areas under fonio cultivation as well as their income.

The quality of life for producers’ families has also improved. The women all say that the huller has freed them from a laborious task and that this has resulted in better family relations. This situation will need to be monitored.

A collective innovation

By involving the key sector stakeholders from the outset in the design of the huller, the researchers enabled them to appropriate its manufacturing and its use and to become more autonomous. This collaboration between researchers and private operators has proved critical to the success of the innovation.

More information on Fonio on Cirad Website

More information on the project Aval Fonio

Stakeholders

Stakeholders involved in the innovation process

Value chain stakeholders : 4 processors (UCODAL, Danaya céréales, Kémé Yayé Diakité, Etrafils), one manufacturer (IMAF)
Research stakeholders: IER (Mali), IRAG(Guinea), IRSAT(Burkina Faso), CIRAD(France)
Institutional stakeholders: Various projects, programs or NGOs have taken part in the broader dissemination of this innovation, particularly in Mali.

Stakeholders impacted by the innovation process

Value chain stakeholders:Processors, manufacturers, farmers