Singapore Business Federation Highlights Opportunities with delegation From Burkina Faso

Aug. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- The discussions between key members of the Singapore Business Federation, the Africa Business Group Singapore and representatives of Burkina Faso including His Excellency Luc-Adolphe Tiao, were designed to look at a variety of business opportunities and areas of cooperation, including mining, engineering, sustainable agriculture and Shariah finance.

Burkina Faso, a land-locked African nation of around 16 million people, is predominately savannah and suffers from recurring droughts and desertification. Almost two thirds of the population are Muslim and there is a high population growth rate of 3.09%. The nation is subject to intensive research for sustainable food growth. The World AgroForestry Centre has already identified how land areas with mixtures of trees and shrubs, known locally as parklands, provide a protected and shaded area for cultivation for a variety of foods such as fruits, fats, oils, leafy vegetables and condiments, thereby complementing staple food crops. But also how indigenous fruit trees Adansanio digitata (Baobab) and Parkia biglobosa (Néré) can help change the performance of the staple crops millet and taro due to the influence in part of "photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)". By intercropping millet with Baobab and taro with Néré crop yields are being improved.

"This research by CGIAR and others across Africa is fundamental to our investment assessments in the region" stated Dr Alex Mond after the business dialogue, "with our understanding of Shariah Finance, and our passion for investments in Agro Forestry to drive both benefits for local populations and a return to our investors, projects and partnerships in countries such as Burkina Faso can become attractive investments".