News

For decades, a myriad of players have made access to quality inputs for farmers their primary mission. But insufficient coordination and duplication of effort have stalled progress. The average use of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides in West Africa remains relatively low compared with the rest of the world.

"This is due to players working in silos," explains Innocent Okuku, a Nigeria-based Fertilizer Distributor.

But this era of uncoordinated delivery of inputs to West African farmers could well be about to undergo a substantial change.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is asking its partners to dialogue, better understand each other, harmonize their interventions and leverage limited resources to have a greater impact on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.

ECOWAS is an instrument of regional integration, working to implement the ambitious program of African Heads of State in West Africa. Doubling food production by 2025 is a central element of the agricultural plan.

"Our ambition is to produce enough food to feed our populations by 2025," says Sekou Sangare, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture.

"We need to build the right partnerships at national and local levels to strengthen the resilience of our farmers to the threat of climate change."

How was this possible?

Many development players are working in West Africa. One of the main investors in agricultural development is theUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID). Approximately US$300 million is provided by USAID to multiple partners to advance West Africa's food and nutrition security agenda.

Agricultural development is a priority for many players working in the region. However, these partners often don't know where, when and what each other is doing.

Rather than continuing with interventions on the ground alone, USAID determined, along with ECOWAS and other regional partners, that it might be useful to begin a process of identifying stakeholders and getting them to express themselves together, while improving the policy and regulatory space.

This took the form of an annual dialogue - the first of these forums was held in Dakar, Senegal. Abuja, the Nigerian capital, hosted the second edition in early February 2020.

"We started with 30 partners in 2019. We've doubled that number in 2020," according to Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF, the institution coordinating these efforts in West Africa.

"Donor coordination is a challenge. But multi-stakeholder platforms can greatly improve the way we do things. You've seen that it allows companies to share the challenges they face in moving inputs from one country to another. This enables ECOWAS to better understand the business challenges and, hopefully, take the necessary steps to improve the situation so that the potential of the private sector can be unleashed. But it doesn't stop there. Sustainable change requires continuous exchange", says Dr. Tenkouano.

Supplying inputs to the private sector through spin-offs

Experts say that effective partnerships, supported by active private sector involvement, are the only viable approach to bringing the necessary innovations to West African farmers.

"Ultimately, it's the companies that have to drive this process," says Abdrahamane Dicko, Program and Policy Advisor at USAID West Africa.

For decades, West African states have played a major role in regulating and supplying quality inputs to farmers. Many countries still apply subsidy systems that enable farmers to have access to quality inputs at relatively affordable costs.

As part of USAID West Africa's support for agricultural development, ECOWAS and its partners have undertaken key reforms, including harmonizing regulations in the areas of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and are in the process of developing a new strategy to deal with inputs in an integrated way.

Although this strategy has improved access to quality inputs, many feel that the private sector needs to play a more visible role if any meaningful, sustainable change is to take place.

"Ultimately, our roles will fade and give way to the private sector to perpetuate this process," argues Abdrahamane Dicko.

"The private sector has more opportunities and resources that can be leveraged to develop the seed sector in West Africa. Their potential is far greater than any support the US government or any other partner can provide," explains Catherine Hamlin, USAID West Africa Agriculture Team Leader.

Ensuring efficient, sustainable service

USAID's foreign aid is currently implemented to enable local institutions and actors to take ownership, define and implement sustainable solutions to their problems.

"We always take the issue of sustainability into account in our programs. This means we want to see more private sector involvement and ownership in the development of this sector in West Africa," added Catherine Hamlin.

Good signals for the private sector

Unlike the first iteration of the regional consultation meeting, the Abuja edition saw the participation of many more input companies. Many of them were self-financed, demonstrating once again the willingness of the private sector to engage and seek sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the input sector in West Africa. Overall, ten of the leading private companies were present.

They came with a desire to explore new opportunities and strengthen existing collaboration, but they also feared that the meeting would not be productive.

"When I received the invitation, I was hesitant. I thought I was going to waste my time," says Stephen Yacouba Atar, CEO of one of Nigeria's oldest seed companies, Da-Allgreen Seeds Limited.

"But, look, I was able to get crucial commercial information on hybrid rice seeds. It was also a way of channelling our grievances to ECOWAS and the decision-makers and looking for solutions together," said the Da-Allgreen Seeds Limited boss.

Da-Allgreen Seeds Limited grows and distributes several varieties of dry cereals in Nigeria and West Africa. Mr. Atar said his plans to diversify into hybrid rice varieties had been put on hold for a long time because he couldn't get the right information or find the right partner.

"I understood that at this meeting. And that's how useful and relevant it is for us as companies."

Some experts claimed that biofertilizers were the right type of nutrients to use in West Africa.

Over the past six years, Contec Global Agro Limited has researched and produced exclusively organic fertilizers and biopesticides.

"We are currently only established in Nigeria. Our ambition is to expand into Senegal and Ghana. That's what brought us to this forum. It has been good for our business," says Dipankur Maini, Business Development Manager at Contec Global Agro Limited.

Nigeria accounts for almost 60% of the West African seed market. Most of the Nigerian companies representing this production are registered with the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN). While SEEDAN sees the value of this meeting, it has suggested that the annual consultation be set up to encourage sincere and critical exchanges on the challenges and opportunities facing the input sector in West Africa.

"What explains why, with so many players working to facilitate access to seeds, our use of inputs is still slow? Why is eastern and southern Africa doing better than us? We need to do business differently. This forum helps us, but we need to act", said the SEEDAN Chairman.

This concerns farmers

"At the end of the day, what matters is that smallholders don't have to wait a week or travel long distances to get access to quality inputs," says Sekou Sangare, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture.

"I'm convinced that one day, farmers in the remotest corners of West Africa will be able to buy seeds and fertilizers wherever they want. There will come a time when inputs will be available like coco-cola is in our grocery store", says Innocent Okuku, Vice President of the West African Fertilizer Association.

More photos of the meeting here

Read also:

• "Innovating in the supply of inputs to farmers" an ECOWAS Official
• The regional strategy for the integrated management of agricultural inputs begins to take shape
• Validation of the integrated regional agricultural input strategy
• West Africa moves closer to an agricultural inputs plan