This Wednesday April 7, 2021 takes place,under the patronage of Mr. Sékou Sangaré, Commissioner in charge of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources of ECOWAS, the launch of ten (10) new climate-smart agriculture pilot projects, selected following the second call for projects “Innovations for smart family farming in the face of climate change in West Africa” launched by Expertise France in June 2020 under the leadership of ECOWAS. The ten projects are spread over 7 West African countries (Cabo Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Sierra Leone) and will be implemented over a period of 20 months for a total cost of 2.3 million euros.

This second call for proposals was launched as part of the GCCA + West Africa project, unded by the European Union, and implemented by Expertise France under the political and institutional leadership of ECOWAS, and in technical partnership. with CILSS.

The objective of the selected pilot projects is to finance the implementation and capitalization of innovative local agricultural solutions with high potential for replication and / or scaling up for the West African region relating to adaptation to the impacts of climate change (seed selection, climate services, agroecological practices, early warning systems) and the mitigation of GHG emissions (carbon storage, dewatering by solar pumping, renewable energies in processing units, etc.).

This call is a response to the fact that family farming (the main source of income and subsistence for 70% of the West African population), which is the primary form of agriculture in West Africa, is struggling to access the means to invest in sustainable production capacities and in the scaling up of proven technical solutions to cope with the effects of climate change.

This second call follows a first call for project proposals launched in 2019 by Expertise France which made it possible to select four (4) first pilot projects in Benin, Niger, Mauritania and Chad. The implementation of these various initiatives contributes to the operationalization of the regional agricultural policy (ECOWAP 2025) of ECOWAS and to the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of member states within the framework of the Agreement. from Paris.

The launching workshop, chaired by ECOWAS, gathers the participation of technical and financial partners, ministries in charge of agriculture and environment of the concerned countries, as well as other regional initiatives.

About GCCA+ West Africa

Funded by the European Union to the tune of €12 million, the GCCA+ West Africa (GCCA+ WA/AMCC+ WA) regional project is being implemented by Expertise France under the leadership of the ECOWAS Commission and in collaboration with the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS). This project is part of a regional cooperation dynamic. It aims to support the concrete implementation of commitments made by the States of the ECOWAS-CILSS area in the fight against climate change.

For more information:http://bit.ly/GCCAPlusWA.