AFD allocates €8 million to ECOWAS Commission to improve food security in the region

Agriculture
Friday, 10 December 2021 13:37
AFD allocates €8 million to ECOWAS Commission to improve food security in the region

(Togo First) - The French Development Agency (AFD) awarded a new grant of €8 million (about CFA5.24 billion) to the Ecowas Commission this week. The funds will help the Commission bolster its food storage and security program in West Africa, according to the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (ARAA).

In the short term, the three-year facility aims to consolidate achievements of the first phase of the Regional Food Security Reserve (RFSR). This regional mechanism, adopted in 2012, enables ECOWAS countries to show regional solidarity in the event of a major food crisis in the region.

"We are convinced that this new support will contribute to the sustainability of the food security storage system in West Africa and will make it possible to mobilize other development partners to further strengthen resilience against the various shocks affecting food security in the region," explained the Director of AFD Nigeria.

Before providing this grant, the EU released a €56 million financing (including €31.9 million allocated to the AFD) for the pilot phase of the ECOWAS regional storage strategy, which covers the project that was recently backed by the AFD. 

Adopted in 2012, the ECOWAS Regional Storage Strategy tackles needs arising from a major food crisis in one country or more in the subregion. To do so, the strategy leverages local and national stocks and the RFSR.

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