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The West and Central African Council for International Fertilizer Development Center for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) have signed a partnership agreement aimed at identifying opportunities to improve farmer productivity thereby contributing to improved food security and poverty reduction in West and Central Africa. The MoU was signed on September 14, 2016 during the Regional Forum on Cotton and Food Security in West and Central Africa held in Lomé. It aims to strengthen the dissemination of environmentally-friendly agricultural technologies and the promotion of climate-smart agriculture in the region.

Speaking to the media after the signing ceremony, Dr Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, underlined the potential of a long-term partnership aimed at promoting and facilitating collaboration and synergies to support smallholder farmers and jointly develop appropriate responses to environmental challenges. " The MoU is an important step in disseminating research-based production technologies towards improving crop productivity and facilitating public-private partnerships (PPPs) to improve smallholder farmers' access to markets, including women and youth in order to stimulate rapid economic growth ,to reduce food insecurity and poverty in West and Central Africa," CORAF/WECARD said. He concluded by emphasizing that: "the significance of the signature is to formalize IFDC's welcome into the large CORAF family, which acts as the technical arm of the RECs. Fertilizers are for the soil the same thing as food is for man - to work well you have to eat".

For Dr Michael SMISIK, Team Leader of USAID's C4CP Project, " IFDC will take advantage of CORAF/WECARD's mandate on research and development (R&D) in agriculture in West and Central Africa to disseminate all the knowledge and experience generated by the projects' actions in the sub-region and beyond ".

IFDC will also help provide a mechanism for regional consultation and collaboration between stakeholders in the cotton sector by sharing the CORAF/WECARD experience and using the Innovation Platform (IP) approach as "a tool for managing the multi-stakeholder process in value chains. IPs use a combination of common learning systems and approaches to catalyze strong engagement of relevant stakeholders at each stage of the process ", emphasized Dr. Abdou Tenkouano at the panel on partnerships to disseminate experiences and lessons learned.

More than 100 participants honored with their presence from September 14 to 16, 2016, in Lomé, the Regional Forum on Cotton and Food Security in West and Central Africa was organized by IFDC and the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) to provide an appropriate framework for reflection and exchange between stakeholders on critical issues related to the cotton sector and food security for its integration into strategic regional and national agricultural policies.

Dr Youssouf CAMARA, Director of Research and Innovation at CORAF/WECARD, also took part in the Forum. In a presentation, he shared his institution's valuable experience of using innovation platforms for technologies and innovations (T&Is) in West and Central Africa.