Five countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Togo - are in Lomé to set up the financing fund for a project to promote climate-smart agriculture in West Africa.
A meeting of experts was organized Tuesday and Wednesday in the Togolese capital, with the collaboration of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food of the Economic Community of the States of West Africa (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union Commission (UEMOA).
The project to promote climate-smart agriculture in the fifteen ECOWAS countries is estimated at $ 14 million which will be mobilized in the form of donations.
It aims to "spread the techniques adapted to climate change" in the ECOWAS region and should help countries to "judiciously settle" climate and agricultural problems, according to sources close to the meeting.
In fact, the project will help reduce the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to climate risks in countries in this part of Africa.
More specifically, it is stated that the reduction of the vulnerability of these countries will be achieved through the scaling up of best practices in the field of soil management, water management, transhumance management and climate services.
The promotion of climate-smart agriculture is presented as a potential major boost to inclusive growth and food security as well as the mobilization of concessional resources in the financial mechanisms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Food Security. Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"If the climate is bad, agriculture is going badly, that’s why this project could help agriculture adapt to everything that happens in the environment," said André Johnson, the Togolese Minister of Environment and Forest Resources.
In the ECOWAS region, the practice of agriculture is mostly depending on the rainy seasons, which are increasingly disrupted by climate change. It is also noted that some secular agricultural practices in countries in the region have adverse effects on the climate.
To this end, Mr Johnson said that "farmers and peasants will need to become aware".
As a reminder, the heads of state of ECOWAS and WAEMU opted, in June 2015 in Bamako, Mali, for the promotion of climate-smart agriculture in West Africa. This choice is included in BOAD’s Strategic Plan and Environmental and Climate Strategy 2015-2019, one of West Africa’s leading financial institutions.
Source: Agence de presse Xinhua
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