West Africa: Launch of four climate-smart agriculture pilot projects

The agriculture sector, which employs over 50% of the labour force in West Africa, is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As this sector accounts for an average of 35% of GDP in the region, the economic and human consequences of the impacts of climate change pose a real regional threat.

As part of its commitment to promote an agroecological transition, ECOWAS is continuing its efforts to increase the number of examples of good practices that can be replicated on a large scale. In this context, through the GCCA+ West Africa project implemented by Expertise France under the umbrella of ECOWAS, fifteen pilot experimentation and capitalisation projects for innovative climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions will be selected and implemented for a total cost of EUR 3.5m.
 

Participating in the transition towards sustainable food production systems

The first call for project proposals was launched in September 2019 on the theme “Innovations for smart family farming exposed to climate change in West Africa”. It selected four pilot projects which will be implemented over a two-year period:

• In Benin: a climate-smart rice project led by the NGO Eclosio, with a total budget of EUR 229,037, including a EUR 183,230 grant from the GCCA+ WA project,

• In Chad: a project to support ecological, self-sufficient, sustainable and climate-smart family farming in peri-urban areas by introducing organic fertilisers, led by Oxfam France, with a total budget of EUR 250,000, including a EUR 200,000 grant from the GCCA+ WA project,

• In Mauritania: a project for innovative solar solutions for irrigation in the municipality of Boghé, led by the association Tenmiya, with a total budget of EUR 255,000, including a EUR 229,500 grant from the GCCA+ WA project,

• In Niger: an integrated agriculture and livestock project to increase the resilience of women and young people, led by the Federation of Unions of Farmers’ Groups of Niger, with a total budget of EUR 267,911 euros, including a EUR 230,000 grant from the GCCA+ WA project.
 

These four projects were officially launched by the ECOWAS Commissioner of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Sékou Sangaré, with the participation of the technical and financial partners of ECOWAS, the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment of the countries concerned, as well as other regional initiatives.

This launch workshop gave visibility to the innovations promoted, the synergies between the activities of the projects and their ownership by the key stakeholders in the region, through field-based solutions that contribute to the achievement of national climate commitments.

A second call for project proposals, launched in May 2020, will select the projects to be implemented in Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
 

Further information is available on the websites of RAAF and Expertise France