News

The regional exchange workshop on the demand for scientific knowledge and technologies for Climate Intelligent Agriculture (CIA), to be handled by the West and Central Africa Decision-Maker-Researcher Dialogue Platform, was officially launched in Lomé on March 29, 2022. 

The official launch ceremony was presided over by the Director General of the Institut Togolais de Recherche Agronomique (ITRA), Dr Yao LOMBO.

In his opening remarks, the ITRA Director emphasized that climate change was a global issue with increasing repercussions on many aspects of human life.

"The agricultural sector was initially identified as a source of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the sector most affected by the scourge of climate change", noted Dr Yao LOMBO. 

Indeed, the issue of agricultural methane emissions is so crucial that on November 02, 2021 at the 26th iteration of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) held in Glasgow (United Kingdom), over a hundred countries committed to reducing their methane emissions by 30% by 2030, by signing the Global Methane Pact.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, this agreement has a number of advantages, including improved food security by preventing crop losses.

ITRA's Managing Director nevertheless reaffirmed Togo's commitment to supporting projects aimed at improving agricultural productivity.

"The climate change challenges facing African agriculture remain at the forefront of the concerns of national governments and regional organizations, as well as development partners," said the ITRA official.

"Togo reiterates its readiness to support the project's activities in order to improve food security and the incomes of small-scale producers, particularly women who suffer the effects of climate change in their noble profession of agriculture."

Workshop objectives

Five main objectives will guide the discussions, which will last three (03) days. The workshop will focus on :

• Contribute to consolidating the organization and operation of the AIC Alliances in West and Central Africa, with a view to implementing their intervention frameworks for the promotion of AIC, with the support of the platform for dialogue between decision-makers and researchers;
• Contribute to the appropriation of the contents of the NDCs and of the results of the participation of West and Central African States in COP 26, so that they can be taken into account in the dialogue between decision-makers and researchers for the promotion of AIC;
• Contribute to the formulation of the 1st generation of demand for knowledge and technology by AIC Alliances and public administrations in charge of NDCs, as well as other stakeholders (farmers' organizations, private sector);
• Initiate an inventory of available research knowledge and technologies;
• Contribute to identifying the orientations (objectives, expected results, intervention methods) of the platform for dialogue between decision-makers and researchers in West and Central Africa.

Some sixty (60) participants from several regional organizations have been invited to the meeting, which is being held in a hybrid format - face-to-face and online. They include the Economic and Monetary Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS).

In addition to these organizations, there are also technical partners, civil society and the CAADP-XP4 project focal points. 

CORAF is organizing the workshop within the framework of CAADP-XP4. CAADP-XP4 is funded by the European Union and managed by IFAD. The program aims to enhance CORAF's capacity to transform agricultural and food systems in West and Central Africa and make them more resilient in the face of climate change.

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• Climate-smart agriculture: spearheading agricultural development in Africa
• Relaunch of the Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture in West Africa
• Towards the creation of an Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture in Central Africa
• EU funding to help CORAF combat climate change and hunger
• 40,000 growers to benefit from EU-funded research project