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According to a new report, West Africa's cotton, maize, livestock, aquaculture and poultry sectors are more competitive and offer small-scale farmers higher incomes today than a few years ago.

With an investment of 1.5 billion FCFA from the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), CORAF, a Dakar-based regional research coordination institution, has implemented a five-year collaborative research project. The project has strengthened the resilience of beneficiary communities and helped improve the livelihoods of thousands of people in UEMOA member states.

UEMOA is a customs union comprising eight countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo). The food economy of the Union's member countries is currently estimated at 43 billion US dollars, representing almost 30% of gross domestic product. This makes the food system a major pillar of the eight WAEMU economies.

From Benin to Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, small-scale farmers have considerably improved their situation thanks to the adoption of proven innovations disseminated by CORAF and national research institute partners.

"For us, these results significantly meet our expectations", says Mr Abdallah Boureima, President of the WAEMU Commission.

In 2014, the UEMOA Commission funded CORAF to improve the maize, cotton, livestock, poultry and aquaculture sectors through research.

"This investment has significantly strengthened the resilience and livelihoods of beneficiaries in the UEMOA community," says Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF.

What are the main results of the project?

Eight thousand five hundred and forty-six households have benefited directly from the project, twenty-three percent of whom are women.

Most of the technologies generated throughout the project were disseminated via innovation platforms. These are places for the informal exchange, learning, sharing and adoption of agricultural technologies, innovations and best practices between key players in the food chain of a given community.

A total of fifteen innovation platforms have been set up and are operating in the eight UEMOA countries. Some 5,500 people have interacted on these platforms, representing 27% of women.

Emile ADIMOU is President of an innovation platform bringing together players in Benin's cotton industry. Benin, Mali and Togo participated in the dissemination of an innovative technology for transforming cotton stalks into particleboard. The result was to transform a previously worthless residue into an income-generating activity.

"I think this is a good initiative that will help reduce poverty and increase the incomes of women and young people in Benin," says Emile ADIMOU.

"Fish farming saved my life and my family's," he says.

Almost a quarter of the total investment was devoted to understanding the genetic make-up of sheep, cattle, guinea fowl, tilapia, etc., and increasing their production.

The results of the research carried out as part of the project's "livestock" component have helped to increase the incomes and livelihoods of fish farmers in the region, and in Côte d'Ivoire in particular.

Klodan Sanogo, a 54-year-old Ivorian, was one of the beneficiaries of the fish farming technology.

"Fish farming has saved my life and that of my family. Since I received new feed and fry, my production has increased considerably," explains Klodan Sanogo.

In addition to improving incomes, one of the most important indirect impacts of the project has been the strengthening of social ties between previously antagonistic tribes.

By bringing together fish farmers from previously hostile tribes, old rivalries have been appeased and old wounds healed.

Côte d'Ivoire experienced a brutal civil crisis after the 2010 elections. Between December 2010 and April 2011, an estimated 3,000 people were killed following a deadlock over the winner of the presidential elections.

The project has also helped prepare the future generation of scientists in West Africa. A total of 25 students - 36% of them women - have obtained masters and doctorate degrees thanks to the project.

See also:

• Cotton stalks, the other financial windfall from white gold
• Better prospects for Benin's maize value chain
• Making fish farming a profitable business in Côte d'Ivoire
• Turning West African cotton stems into a profitable business