Food Crisis, an Urgent Call for Implementation of Ecowap, Says Ecowas Agriculture Commissioner

19 May 2010
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Lome - Togo — The ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Salifou Ousseini, on Wednesday, 19th May 2010 in Lome called for the speedy implementation of the ECOWAS Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP) as this provides the structural framework for significantly meeting the food challenges facing the region.

Speaking against the backdrop of the current food and nutritional crisis confronting West Africa, the Commissioner said at the opening of the extraordinary meeting of ECOWAS Ministers of Agriculture, Trade and Humanitarian Affairs that the current crisis provided an opportunity to resolve the numerous challenges of the sector. Among them are the issues of increased productivity to ensure food self- sufficiency and the reduction of the vulnerability of rural households particularly those in economically disadvantaged and disaster-affected areas. In this regard, he said ECOWAS has evolved development specific policy reforms targeting the areas of market regulation, agricultural development and access to food for the vulnerable population.

Commissioner Ousseini stated that the current crisis testifies to the urgent need for the implementation of relevant regional instruments, particularly through concerted remedial action focused primarily on the successful formulation of agricultural investment plans at the national and regional levels and the adoption of public reform policies.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister of Togo, Mr. Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, said the food crisis has been marked by a decline in food production and emphasized the need to adopt urgent measures in order to adequately address the situation. While underscoring the efforts of the Togolese Government towards the development of the agricultural sector, the Prime Minister stressed the need to accelerate the development and implementation of national and regional agricultural investment programmes that would provide durable solutions to the cyclic crises faced by the region. While welcoming the proposed regional intervention strategy, Mr. Houngbo lauded the ECOWAS Commission for assisting some Member States to successfully develop their agricultural investment programmes and proposed the allocation of adequate financial resources to the agricultural sector.

Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Professor Sheik Ahmed Abdullah, proposed a cross-cutting solution to the crisis that takes cognizance of climate change adaptation, virile agricultural policy safety nets as well as financial and material support. These, he added, would "douse the impending structural and chronic vulnerability of the affected populations". He warned that the present crisis could manifest in widespread decline in food production in all the member states including Nigeria, whose sudano-sahelian region bordering Chad and Niger and which is noted for grain production, will experience an estimated production decline of between 10 to 20 per cent this season.

The minister who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mr. Emmanuel Damilola Eniaiyeju, said the Nigerian government has adopted certain strategies to mitigate the effects of the food crisis on the population. In addition, he said that in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Nigeria is currently developing a national food crisis response programme within the context of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme/New Partnership for Africa's Development (CAADP/NEPAD). Represented at the meeting were Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Also in attendance were representatives of France, Spain, the European Union and the World Food Programme (WFP) while civil society organizations and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were represented by OXFAM, CARE International, Save the Children UK, and the BILITAL Network. Officials from the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), CILSS (Le Comite Permanent Inter Etat de Lutte contre la Secheresse dans le Sahel) and the High Level Task Force (HLTF) also attended the meeting.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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