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Around ten million people in West and Central Africa are expected to benefit from a new technology scaling-up program financed by the Swiss Cooperation. The program, to be implemented by CORAF, explicitly targets women and young people in five West and Central African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad).

An agreement to this effect was signed on Monday, November 30, 2020, at CORAF headquarters in Dakar, Senegal, between the Swiss Ambassador in Dakar, Her Excellency Dr. Marion Weichelt Krupski, and the President of CORAF's Board of Directors, Dr. Angela Moreno. Also present were ambassadors from some of the beneficiary countries, as well as some of CORAF's financial and technical partners.

The agreement covers the period 2020-2024 and constitutes the first phase of a 12-year commitment between Swiss cooperation and CORAF for a total amount of 33 million USD (18 billion FCFA). The first phase amounts to 11 million USD (6 billion FCFA).

"This agreement aims to support greater dissemination of agricultural research products in West Africa," said Ambassador Krupski, who also covers Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Mauritania.

"In concrete terms, this contribution aims to ensure the food, nutritional and economic security of over 10 million people (direct and indirect beneficiaries), 50% of whom are women and 60% young people in West Africa", according to the Swiss diplomat.

The Swiss contribution will enable some 2 million producers and processors, 50 percent of them women and 60 percent young people, to make greater use of innovations and technologies to increase yields of maize, millet, rice, cassava and tomatoes.

• For Ambassador Krupski's full speech, click here
• To see pictures of the ceremony, click here

CORAF congratulates the SDC on financing its Priorits.

SDC funding to CORAF is primarily aimed at financing CORAF's 2018-2027 Strategic Plan.

"It's not every day that donors approach a development organization without a predefined program. The agreement we are signing today reflects a demand-driven partnership approach for which Swiss cooperation deserves special praise", said the Chairwoman of CORAF's Board of Directors.

"Throughout the process of engaging and designing this program, Swiss cooperation has always sought to give priority to CORAF's strategic plan."

From the lab to the field

CORAF and its partners have generated numerous cutting-edge technologies and innovations over the past ten years. In all, some 400 technologies have been generated. Many of these are not only gender- and youth-sensitive, but also climate-tolerant. The challenge remains how to ensure that the technologies are adopted by the target users. Scaling up these innovations is the focus of the new SDC-funded intervention.

"The signing of this contract will enable us to take research results out of laboratories and research centers and into the field and into agricultural businesses," said the Swiss official at the signing ceremony.

"Thanks to this agreement, the technologies developed will be scaled up and made accessible to small-scale farmers, enabling them to keep up to date and develop new technologies that will meet their needs," said Dr Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF.

Read also:

• Swiss Cooperation and CORAF sign an agreement worth over 5.6 billion FCFA (11 million dollars)