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Over the past 10 years, the United States Agency for International Development West Africa Office (USAID/WA) and the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) have worked closely together to support producers' access to quality seeds and the scaling-up of improved agricultural technologies. This was the focus of discussions during the visit of Mr. Alexandre DEPREZ, USAID-West Africa Mission Director to the CORAF/WECARD Executive Secretariat on September 7, 2016 Dakar, Senegal.

During his visit, Alexandre DEPREZ, reiterated his institution's support for CORAF/WECARD. "I'm here to express the support of the American people, and I'm taking this opportunity to explore how we can strengthen cooperation between our two institutions for food security in West Africa," he said during his visit.

Dr Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, presented the key achievements of his institution over the last 10 years. "Over the 30 years of its existence, CORAF/WECARD has helped to link isolated talents and efforts into useful partnerships to deliver scientific innovations that stimulate agricultural development and economic growth in West and Central Africa," he stressed, before unveiling the institution's new strategy and vision. Under the forthcoming operational plan, CORAF/WECARD will focus on regional capacity building and excellence, technology scaling for greater impact, and foresight and rapid response to guide public decision-making processes, particularly for science and technology related to agricultural priorities.

Prior to the exchange with the mission director, a technical working meeting was held at CORAF/WECARD headquarters to explore new areas of collaboration. The USAID/WA delegation comprised Ms Catherine Hamlin, Director of Agriculture, and Mr Abdrouhamane DICKO, Program Officer and CORAF/WECARD Focal Point. Dr Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director, Dr Youssouf CAMARA, Acting Director of Research and Innovation, Dr Ernest ASIEDU, West Africa Seed Program Team Leader, Ms Safouratou ADARIPARE, Director of Finance and Administration and Dr Anatole KONE, Information and Communication Manager made up the CORAF/WECARD delegation.

The two delegations agreed on specific institutional and technical activities to be planned and implemented shortly.

USAID has been supporting CORAF/WECARD since 2006 to achieve its mandate of developing and ensuring the effective implementation of sub-regional research for development in the region through the coordination of agricultural research.

Initially, the aid was used to strengthen the institutional capacity of CORAF/WECARD as an institutional support body and the Food Security Program (IFSP), implemented within the Global Food Security Response Initiative (GFSRI) and the implementation of six projects focusing on staple food crops, and agricultural crop biotechnology to strengthen the institutional and human capacity of national agricultural research systems (NARS) in 11 countries.

From 2011 onwards, USAID support has been directed towards the Feed the Future Initiative (FtF) and ECOWAP/PRIA priorities focusing on creating sustainable agricultural improvement. Within this framework, CORAF/WECARD was entrusted with the coordination of the West Africa Seed Program (WASP) in 2012. As a result, over the past four years CORAF/WECARD has facilitated intra-regional trade through the development of a policy environment conducive to effective implementation of the ECOWAS-UEMOA-CILSS harmonized seed regulation in the 17 countries, which doubled between 2013 and 2016.

Taking advantage of regional harmonized regulations, CORAF/WECARD has helped to accelerate the recovery of agriculture in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea through post-Ebola agricultural rehabilitation programs, and has helped to prevent the spectre of hunger for a million farming families through the multiplication of basic seeds supplied into certified seeds.