Launched in 2017, the Ecowas Agroecology Program started its activities with a first project funded by AFD (€ 8 million) to support the agroecological transition in the region. This first Support Project to the Agroecological Transition in West Africa (Patae) aims to promote the development, adoption and dissemination of ecologically intensive agricultural practices within family farms, in order to contribute to their resilience to the impacts of climate change and to improving food and nutrition security for the region’s populations.

Launched in 2017, the Ecowas Agroecology Program started its activities with a first project funded by AFD (€ 8 million) to support the agroecological transition in the region. This first Support Project to the Agroecological Transition in West Africa (Patae) aims to promote the development, adoption and dissemination of ecologically intensive agricultural practices within family farms, in order to contribute to their resilience to the impacts of climate change and to improving food and nutrition security for the region’s populations.

Since 2019, the European Union has been supporting this Program with additional funding of € 8.2 million through the Support Project to the dissemination and implementation of good practices for sustainable agricultural intensification in West Africa (Paiad).

For the implementation of this 5-year project, the European Commission has delegated most of its financial contribution to the French Development Agency (AFD). As for Patae, the contracting authority for this new project is the Ecowas Commission, via its Department of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources and its Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (Raaf), which will help to ensure consistency and strengthen synergy between the two projects.

The Paiad project must contribute to strengthen the resilience of the populations and food and nutritional security. It aims to support the transformation of agriculture and encourage the emergence, adoption and large-scale promotion of innovative sustainable agricultural intensification practices in the area of agricultural production, mainly in areas affected by degradation of agricultural land, rainfall problems and the degradation of natural resources.

The Program covers the 15 Member States of Ecowas and is implemented under the coordination of Raaf with technical assistance from the Association Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontière (AVSF), the Institute for Research and Application of Development Methods (Iram) and the African Institute for Economic and Social Development (Inades Formation).

Given the mobility and intervention restrictions imposed by the control measures of the current Covid-19 pandemic, the activities planned for 2020 as part of the Program focus on the diagnosis (i) of training centers in agroecology and sustainable agriculture, (ii) support, advice and extension systems to professional farmer organizations (PFO), (iii) partnerships between PFO and research centers for the dissemination of research products and (iv) the appointment of complementary national correspondents, agents of the ministries in charge of the agro-sylvo-pastoral and fishery sector to facilitate the implementation of the Program in all the 15 Member States of Ecowas.

The Program will also focus on the initial capitalization of the results of soil fertility management systems, national consultations on agro-ecological issues that can help the advancement of national agricultural investment and food security programs, and the start of the implementation of the communication and visibility plan.