In urban areas of Burkina Faso, especially in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, grill stands, sandwich vendors, and roadside restaurants serve foods ranging from shawarma to pizza. They have become especially popular among young people.
With street food playing such an important role in urban diets, it offers an opportunity to promote the consumption of leafy greens. But many customers have limited awareness of their health benefits. In addition, many work in physically demanding jobs, such as construction and cleaning, which often shape food choices toward energy-dense meals that they perceive as providing more strength and sustenance than leafy vegetables. That means they often prioritize calorie- and carbohydrate-rich foods based on rice, yam or cassava, over healthier meals containing fiber- and micronutrient-rich leafy greens like amaranth, roselle or jute mallow.
Wageningen University’s strategy of promoting the consumption of leafy green vegetables via street food vendors, as part of the SafeVeg project, has made great strides in these cities. The team trained vendors on the health benefits of consuming leafy green vegetables and provided specially-made flyers for them to share with customers. They also directly engaged with customers to promote leafy greens when visiting vendors as part of the project.
During the project’s pilot phase in Ouagadougou, almost half of consumers took leafy green vegetable dishes when offered. The team learned that some had already begun to integrate leafy green sauce into their meals after hearing the benefits explained by street food vendors. Nine vendors reported customers returning to convince others of the health benefits.
The work showed that street food vendors can play an important role in encouraging healthier eating habits in urban areas. The activities contributed to renewed interest in diets that include leafy greens, while encouraging neighboring food vendors to begin offering similar dishes to their customers.
The approach has since expanded through collaboration with organizations including the National Consumers League and RIKOLTO – an international NGO focused on sustainable food systems, farmer livelihoods, and nutritious food. RIKOLITO works with around 50 street food vendors in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, providing training on good hygiene practices for preparing leafy green vegetables and encouraging them to offer these vegetables to their customers.
This work was undertaken as part of Work Package 2 (WP2) of the SafeVeg project, which aims to increase the consumption of safe, nutritious vegetables by making them more trusted, acceptable, and accessible to consumers. WP2 is led by Wageningen University & Research and implemented with national research partners, consumer organisations, and private-sector actors across the supply chain in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. SafeVeg is led by WorldVeg, and carried out with funding from the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
