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On July 19, 2022, the symposium on the state of agricultural research for development (AR4D) in West and Central Africa, organized by CORAF, opened in Cotonou, Benin. 

Chaired by the Secretary General of Benin's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAEP), representing the Minister in charge, the opening ceremony was an opportunity for CORAF and its partners to highlight the relevance of the symposium's theme: "Agricultural technologies & innovations: climate-smart solutions for transforming emergency and post-emergency situations".

"Agricultural research is one of the main factors contributing to change in agricultural production systems and the evolution of the rural world. In particular, it contributes to improving productivity and farm incomes, and to changing farming practices", says CORAF Executive Director Dr Abdou TENKOUANO.

In West and Central Africa, agricultural research faces a number of challenges that prevent it from fully playing its role as a catalyst for socio-economic development.

However, Dr TENKOUANO points out that the challenges facing agricultural research are well known, and are summarized in what is known as sustainable or ecological intensification.

Speakers at the symposium's launch ceremony unanimously agreed on the need to pool efforts and, above all, take advantage of synergies to meet these challenges.

In Benin, "the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries will spare no effort to support all good initiatives that can lead to the strengthening of sub-regional collaboration and the pooling of synergies and resources, in order to ensure the development of the agricultural sector and, more globally, the development of the nations of West and Central Africa", declared Dr Françoise Komlan ASSOGBA, Secretary General of the APRM in Benin.

"This symposium demonstrates the need for research centers and national agricultural research systems to work together to respond to producers' need for adaptation through field-tested contributions. This synergy of action is essential today for Africa's agricultural development", asserted Mrs. Alansar Elisabeth PITTELOUD, Representative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) at the opening ceremony. 

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• Cotonou to host symposium on AR4D in West and Central Africa

CORAF is organizing the symposium as part of its project to scale up agricultural technologies and innovations to increase the resilience of production systems and family farms in West and Central Africa(TARSPro). Funded by the SDC, TARSPro is an initiative that supports CORAF's Operational Plan.

The three-day scientific meeting will bring together over a hundred participants - some of them online - including researchers and academics, the private sector, representatives of technical and financial partners, and representatives of regional economic communities.