The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has signed a financing agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD) to support the regional agricultural policy (ECOWAP).

Development Diaries reports that two financing agreements totaling €20 million were signed by the ECOWAS President, Omar Touray, and French Minister of State for Development, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, in Abuja, Nigeria.

The World Bank in a 2022 report noted that for the third consecutive year, West Africa was facing a major food and nutrition crisis, with 14.4 and 23.7 million people in need of food assistance in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

SDG Two: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

In a statement on its website, ECOWAS noted that the financing is dedicated to the implementation of two projects.

The first is the €11 million support to the ‘Local Milk Regional Strategy’, while the second is the nine million euro support to the West African Food Security Storage Strategy.

‘This support from the French Development Agency (AFD) is part of our collective efforts to strengthen the regional response to food security and nutrition challenges, as well as fostering economic and social development in the region’, explained the French Minister of State.

ECOWAP is a comprehensive policy formulated to increase production and productivity in West Africa.

The policy, which has been described as one of the best regional agriculture policies in the continent, is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme.

It is understood that the implementation of the project will be performed by the ECOWAS through its Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF).

Source: ECOWAS