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While there is ample evidence of the "substantial" impact of the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) on the economies of West African countries, efforts are underway to better focus the activities of a more ambitious and transformative version of the program.

Known as the West African Agricultural Transformation Program (WAATP), this new intervention aims to significantly step up the adoption of climate-smart technologies, improve job creation and expand access to regional markets for targeted products.

What's new?

The CAATP aims to transform the agricultural industry, in a sustainable way, by scaling up replicable innovations, technologies and agricultural varieties using ICT tools and geo-mapping.

The geographical scope of its coverage will extend to Central Africa, with the participation of Cameroon. Chad and other Central African nations may eventually join the program.

"Despite the progress made, agricultural productivity in the West and Central African sub-region still lags behind that of the rest of the world", says Dr. Niéyidouba Lamien, regional coordinator of the WAPP. says Dr. Niéyidouba Lamien, regional coordinator of the WAPP.

"We need to go beyond the question of productivity and focus on the general issue of improving the food system to meet the demand of a growing population, solve the problems of youth unemployment, climate change, migration, gender and nutrition".

Scheduled for launch in late 2018, the PTAAO will focus on the following five mutually reinforcing components:

• strengthening the new model for innovation development in West Africa;
• accelerating the widespread adoption of improved technologies and innovations;
• strengthening policies, markets and institutions;
• responding to emergencies
• project management, learning and monitoring/evaluation.

"This program has set itself some very ambitious targets, because West and Central Africa deserve it. At least 40% of its beneficiaries must be women. The technologies disseminated must focus on critical areas such as climate-smart agriculture, nutrition, mechanization and processing. This program will also be judged on the number of permanent and seasonal jobs it creates", says Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF).

What has the WAPP achieved?

Over two hundred technologies have been disseminated and adopted by almost 4.5 million growers and processors on around 4.8 million hectares. These technologies are available at www.mita.coraf.org.

PPAAO has financed master's and doctoral studies for 1,021 young people, 72% of whom are men and 28% women. These young researchers are expected to replace the majority of retiring agricultural researchers. The nine National Specialization Centers in the countries participating in the program have benefited from the renovation of their infrastructures and the construction of new research laboratories. Two of these centers have evolved into regional centers of specialization. These include the Centre national de spécialisation sur les céréales sèches, based in Senegal, and the Centre national de spécialisation sur les racines et tubercules, based in Ghana.

By increasing yields of the main crops by between 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 period" was reduced by between 28 and 55%, depending on the product. The PPAAO has also increased the economic situation of producers by 34% and transformed communities.

The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) was launched in 2008 with the mission of improving productivity, reducing hunger, improving nutrition, creating jobs and supporting cross-border collaboration.

Ten years on, the program has reached almost nine million people directly, and some 49 million indirectly.

In 2016, the World Bank ranked the WAPP as the second-best project it had financed in Africa.

The WAPP is an initiative of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS). It is financed by the World Bank and technically coordinated by CORAF.