News

A delegation from the West African Cereal Network (ROAC) visited CORAF to identify ways of working together to tackle the urgent challenges facing the cereals value chain.

Rice, maize, millet and sorghum are suffering from diseases such as aflatoxin and army worm, as well as a lack of quality inputs.

"CORAF not only has the regional reach but also the technical capacity to meet the challenges facing our farmers and producers," says Soumaila Sanou, President of ROAC.

Maize, millet, sorghum, wheat and rice are the main staple foods for most of the 430 million people living in West and Central Africa. Sustainable production and value-added processing are crucial to the region's food and nutritional security.

ROAC visited CORAF to explore the possibilities of creating a partnership not only to increase cereal production, but also to ensure their marketing throughout the region.

"Mr. Soumaila SANOU, President of ROAC visits CORAF

How are cereals faring in West Africa?

Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal are doing relatively well in terms of rice production. According to ROAC, these four countries have almost achieved self-sufficiency in terms of rice production. But others, such as Burkina Faso, are still lagging behind, according to ROAC's president.

Most of West Africa is self-sufficient in terms of maize production, according to ROAC.

"However, there are still challenges to be met in terms of processing and quality, mainly because of aflatoxin," says Soumaila Sanou.

"Many farmers still don't know how to tackle aflatoxin. Wherever our farmers are, they should have the right information to prevent this disease," says Sanou.

As for sorghum, the President of ROAC affirms that production is good, unlike millet.

"We are now calling on research to see what varieties can be made available to growers to enable them to have an increase in millet yield," said Mr. Sanou.

Recently, the Economic Community of West African States held a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss plans to achieve self-sufficiency in West Africa by 2027.

How is WAGN doing?

Much of the grain used by West African breweries is imported.

Since its creation in 2013, ROAC has made the use of local cereals by breweries a priority.

The network is also working on the free circulation of cereals in the region.

But the real difficulty for farmers, according to the network, is the issue of storing unsold grain. ROAC is working with ECOWAS to remedy this situation.

The network hopes to get states to support farmers and traders in creating and maintaining quality storage. This will provide the region with quality grain and help producers reduce losses.

The ROAC delegation was received by CORAF's Director of Research and Innovation, Dr Abdulai Jalloh, in the presence of the Head of Communications and Marketing.

More photos of the meeting here