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Established in 1987 and with its Executive Secretariat in Dakar (Senegal), the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) coordinates the agricultural research of twenty-three (23) National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) across West and Central Africa.

Its main objective is to improve livelihoods in West and Central Africa through sustainable increases in agricultural production and productivity, by promoting competitiveness and markets.

To achieve this, CORAF is implementing several projects in the countries concerned, with the support of technical and financial partners.

Among the projects implemented by CORAF is the TARSPro project (Technologies et Innovations Agricoles pour l'Accroissement de la Résilience des Systèmes de Production et des Exploitations Familiales en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre), funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

This project aims to ensure food, nutritional and economic security for the populations of West and Central Africa, specifically in five countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad. Specifically, the TARSPro project aims to :

1. Increase the resilience of the food production system of at least 2 million producers/processors, 50% of whom are women and 60% young people in the 5 target countries, and more than 10 million indirect beneficiaries.
2. To sustainably meet the demand for know-how (technologies and innovations) of at least 40% of the family farms affected by the project.
3. Ensure a coalition and synergy of action between players involved in agricultural transformation.

The project is committed to a number of outputs to achieve these different objectives. With regard to the objective of creating a coalition and synergy of action between players involved in agricultural transformation, the project is planning, among other things, to set up an operational platform for the management of scientific knowledge. In concrete terms, this platform will take the form of a scientific information store to serve players in the agri-food sector. To help set up this scientific information store, the TARSPro project has set itself the task of organizing regular meetings on the state of agricultural research. A symposium on the state of agricultural research in West and Central Africa will be held in Cotonou (Benin) from July 19 to 21, 2022.

This symposium provides an opportunity for researchers from NARS and universities in the countries covered by CORAF to take part in a dialogue around a paradigm shift in the agricultural sector, by proposing papers to be presented during the symposium.

Papers should address the following topics:

1. Climate-smart agriculture (crop, livestock, aquaculture, forestry and environment) - adaptation and mitigation
2. Transboundary plant pests and diseases
3. Restoring degraded land and managing soil and water fertility
4. Post-harvest management (processing, preservation and marketing)

Additional information:

• Papers must be submitted in Word format, with a title and a short biographical note on the author(s).
• Communications must be sent by June 20, 2022 at 23:59 GMT, jointly to secoraf@coraf.org and n.nkoum@coraf.org.
• Notifications will be sent to authors whose papers have been accepted by June 30, 2022 at the latest.
• The symposium will take place in Cotonou (Benin) and online, from July 19 to 21, 2022. The agenda and further details will be announced at a later date.

Discover the evaluation criteria for the symposium papers.

For further information, please write to secoraf@coraf.org, copying n.nkoum@coraf.org.