The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed a grant agreement to support the food security storage system in West Africa.
The grant includes a contribution of eight million euros and a three-year AFD support to ECOWAS to enable the region to manage food, nutrition and pastoral crises.
In the short term, the support aims to consolidate the achievements of the first phase of the Regional Food Security Reserve (RFSR) and build a multilateral partnership around the regional food security storage system in the mid and long terms
This new support follows a pilot phase funded by the European Union (EU) for €56 million of which €31.9 million was delegated to AFD to support the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Storage Strategy.
The ECOWAS Regional Food Security Storage Strategy combines local stocks, national stocks and the RFSR to ensure regional solidarity in the event of a major food crisis in the region.
Data from the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies shows that 23.6 million people are projected to face crisis-level food insecurity in West Africa, signaling a 40 percent increase in 2021.
A combination of climate change, poverty and conflict has contributed to a jump in food insecurity in the ECOWAS region.
Data from the AFD shows that food insecurity remains a major structural problem in the region, with 40 million people undernourished and vulnerable to chronic malnutrition.
‘ECOWAS welcomes AFD’s new financial support to the regional solidarity instrument, the relevance and effectiveness of which were demonstrated during the first phase’, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, said.
‘The new funding will notably enable the Regional Food Security Reserve to increase its readiness to fully play its role as the first line of defence in the event of a shock affecting people’s ability to feed themselves.
‘The new phase will also be an opportunity to build a multi-stakeholder funding partnership to ensure the sustainability of our food security storage system’.
Development Diaries understands that the project activities will be implemented in all ECOWAS member states, as well as in two non-member states – Chad and Mauritania – that were involved in the implementation of the pilot phase.
ECOWAS said in a statement that the new phase will call for adaptations of the regulatory framework of the RFSR, the design of innovative financial mechanisms, and increased mobilisation of support for the region’s food security storage strategy.
According to the regional body, it will also require adaptation of response instruments to rapid-onset crises and new risk factors like health crises.
World Bank data indicates multiple shocks across West Africa, largely induced by agricultural risks, have made food scarcer and more expensive and increased malnutrition.
The World Bank also noted that approximately 27 million West Africans needed immediate food assistance due to a combination of drought, poverty, high cereal prices, environmental degradation, displacement, poor trade integration, and conflict in 2021.
‘We have no doubt that this new support will contribute to the sustainability of the food security storage system in West Africa and mobilise other development partners to further strengthen resilience to the various shocks affecting food security in the region’, Director of AFD Nigeria, Xavier Muron, said.
Source: ECOWAS
Photo source: UNAMID
