Can pineapples thrive in Africa's Sahel? A Burkina Faso farmer says the answer is yes

BOBO-DIOULASSO, Burkina Faso -- The soil beneath Oumarou Compaoré's boots is sandy and stony. It’s hardly the lush setting usually needed to support growing pineapples.But this farm in landlocked Burkina Faso is part of national efforts to reduce overall reliance on imports and adapt to an ever-harsher climate in the dry heat of Africa’s Sahel region. Pineapples have long been seen as exotic fruit grown by richer coastal neighbors, and more expensive than the mangoes that grow outside many Burkinabe homes.“People told us that here we could only grow cotton, maize or sorghum,” Compaoré said at the farm he founded in 2018 outside the western city of Bobo-Dioulasso, where he drives around in a van with an inscription that reads, “Pioneer in pineapple production in the Sahel.”His pineapple initiative, inspired in part by border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, is one of the more unusual projects challenging the idea that people in Burkina Faso must rely on neighbors for much of what they eat.“Because the fruit was in short supply, we were able to sell it easily,” said Compaoré, who also had been growing papayas with little profit. Now his pineapple field has grown to about 50 hec...