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The World Bank has expressed its satisfaction with the state of implementation of the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP). CORAF is mandated by the Economic Commission of West African States to coordinate the program at regional level.

Speaking at a biannual joint support mission (World Bank - countries - CORAF) on Thursday, November 8, 2018 at CORAF headquarters in Dakar, Senegal, Mr. Abdoulaye Touré, Chief Agricultural Economist at the World Bank, praised the progress of the WAPP.

"Overall, we are pleased with the WAPP's contribution to reducing food insecurity and income inequality, training the next generation of agricultural researchers, creating specific innovations and technologies, and building sustainable agricultural research in West Africa," said Dr. Toure.

When the program began in 2007, its main objective was to reach six (06) million people. Based on clear evidence, the program has exceeded its initial objectives, reaching over 9 million people directly and 56 million indirectly.

Over two hundred technologies have been disseminated and adopted by nearly 4.5 million growers and processors on around 4.8 million hectares.

PPAAO has also financed master's and doctoral training for 1,021 young people. This represents 72% of men and 28% of women. Most of these young researchers are already fully involved in the advancement of improved research in their respective countries.

With the renovation of research equipment and infrastructure, the nine national centers of specialization are succeeding in creating appropriate collaborations and partnerships to catalyze innovations and improved technologies to meet the needs of the region's priority crops.

By increasing yields of priority crops by 30% for dry cereals and 150% for rice, fruits and tubers, the program has had a considerable impact on food security and calorie intake. Caloric consumption rose from 2,777 kcal to 2,964 kcal, and the "hunger gap" was reduced from 28% to 55%, depending on the value chain. The PPAAO has also improved the economic situation of farmers and transformed communities by 34%.

The CORAF should do more

While praising the progress made, Mr. Toure asked CORAF to do more to take technological innovations into account.

"CORAF needs to do more to facilitate the exchange of technology and innovation at country level.

"CORAF is also responsible for the expected results, particularly in terms of technology adoption. This means that as part of its regional coordination mandate, CORAF must play an active role in facilitating the exchange and adoption of technologies."

Make CORAF a organization sustainable

Touré also reiterated the World Bank's commitment to making CORAF a sustainable organization for advancing the research and development agenda in West and Central Africa.

He praised CORAF's new strategic direction, saying it had restored his confidence in CORAF.

"I see that confidence has returned. I see a strong, solid team focused on results," said the World Bank team leader.

"You can count on the Bank's support as long as you continue in this direction."

" Satisfactory"

Joint support missions are also set up to assess the performance of CORAF and the projects implementing the WAPP.

Given the progress made in implementing the WAPP in November 2018, CORAF has achieved a satisfactory score.

Visit PPAAO?

The PPAAO is an ECOWAS initiative. Launched in 2008, the PPAAO aims to make agriculture more productive, sustainable and profitable for smallholders. It aims to improve consumers' living conditions by making agricultural products available at competitive prices, to build a critical mass of researchers for decisive, effective and collaborative research programs, and finally to ensure that technologies generated at national level are available at regional level.

The program is financed by the countries through a loan system obtained from the World Bank. CORAF implements the program at regional level. All parties meet twice a year to assess the status of implementation and agree on specific actions to accelerate the delivery of agreed results.

Fence

 In addition to the 13 countries where the program has been launched, activities are underway in Benin, Guinea, Niger and Togo. Projects in these countries are scheduled for completion in December 2019.

The program has ended in all other countries, with the exception of Mali, Ghana and Senegal, where the program will close in December 2018.

A more ambitious WOAIP

Building on the results of the WAPP, countries, ECOWAS and the World Bank are currently finalizing their implementation plans for a more ambitious WAPP.

The new intervention aims to significantly step up the adoption of climate-smart technologies, boost job creation and expand access to regional markets for targeted products. Women and young people play a key role in the new program, which should be operational in 2019.