News

Stakeholders from the five priority value chains (cotton, corn, livestock/meat, poultry and aquaculture) will meet in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from January 22 to 26, 2018 to discuss sustainable ways of improving project performance in these sectors.

Animal genetic resources, cotton and maize represent an important source of food and nutritional security and livelihoods for families and communities in West Africa.

Governments, regional economic communities, research centers and civil society organizations recognize this and are working together to transform these sectors into sustainable income-generating activities for small producers and breeders in the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

At the Ouagadougou meeting, agricultural research and development players from CORAF and other national, regional and international research organizations will be examining projects aimed at improving the competitiveness of the cotton sector, improving access to financing for players in the maize value chain, and increasing productivity in the livestock, aquaculture and poultry sectors.

Towards progress

On September 17, 2014, UEMOA and CORAF renewed their collaboration agreement. The new agreement mandated CORAF to lead agricultural research and development in three priority areas for Union countries.

Three years after implementation of the livestock, aquaculture and poultry promotion component, the characterization undertaken of five cattle and sheep breeds shows strong potential for future use, management and conservation.

These include the Ndama and Djelli cattle breeds in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Niger, and the Peul Peul and Oudah sheep breeds in Senegal and Niger respectively.

The growth of animal genetic resources in West Africa relies on a model of engagement known as Innovation Platforms, where value chain players meet to learn, share knowledge and exchange ideas to trade and exploit commercial opportunities in the sector.

Hundreds of people are currently involved in the five innovation platforms in the participating countries.

Getting more out of cotton

With particleboard made from cotton stalks at a much lower price than wooden boards, the UEMOA has mandated CORAF to help the Union's cotton-growing communities transform cotton by-products into particleboard, thus improving their income.

Feasibility studies have been completed, and with pilot units due to come on stream shortly, cotton stalks in the West African producer countries of Benin, Mali and Togo will begin to be transformed into particleboard. These three countries alone produce over 1,500,000 tonnes of cotton stalks a year.

Already, cotton stalks are transformed into cattle feed, soil fertility elements, firewood, building materials and so on. But a very large proportion is currently burnt in these countries just after the harvest.

The project has been involved in training cotton growers, including women, to pick and store cotton stalks.

Are farmers using new corn varieties?

To learn from and better serve maize-growing communities in West Africa, CORAF undertook an evaluation to measure the impact of the adoption of improved maize varieties in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali.

Preliminary results from the study indicate an average adoption rate of 88%. Age, whether maize is the main crop, group membership, number of agricultural assets in each household and participation in maize production training are some of the variables that determine adoption.

The study also shows that the adoption of new varieties could potentially increase profits by around 35%.

Poverty is reduced by almost 9 percent for those who adopt new varieties, according to the preliminary results of the impact study.

The results, conclusions and recommendations of the study will be finalized and validated at the Ouagadougou meeting.

CORAF recently approved the financing of a project to improve access to finance for players in the maize sector in Benin, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, for a total amount of 130,000,000 FCFA.

This project will continue to work on strengthening the corn sectors in these three countries.