By Ben Agande, Abuja
The European Union (EU) has provided €20 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to work with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in developing a coordinated response to increasing food security in the region by improving access to food.

Farm

In a statement in Abuja, the European Union delegation to Nigerioa pointed out that the EU’ssupport which is part of the €1 Billion Food Facility was set up in December 2008, is  to provide support and bridge the gap between emergency aid and medium_to long_term development aid. This support comes at a time of worsening food insecurity caused by volatile food prices.

Head of the EU delegation to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States, Mr. David Mac Rae said food prices coupled with the global economi melt down has made the small scale farmer vulnerable.

”The volatility of food prices in the last two years, accentuated by the global economic and financial crisis has put West African smallholder farmers in a difficult situation. Because of the wide geographical scope of the problem, part of the response to the crisis had to be regional to complement national EU funded Food Facility projects,” he said.

The programme is to be implemented by IFAD in close collaboration with ECOWAS, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi_Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and national governments in the context Of on_going IFAD_financed projects in the region.

According to the statement, the programme is aimed at increasing the  availability of improved seed varieties in the ECOWAS region which will in turn assist  small farmers to increase agricultural production and grow enough food in the long term to meet the needs of vulnerable populations in the region.

The implementing programme partners  are expected to work with smallholder seed producers, farmers’ organizations and National Agricultural  Research Systems on the key food crops of West Africa, namely  rice, maize, cassava, peanuts and yam.

The IFAD’s Director for West and Central Africa, Mohammed Beavogui said the organization is e pleased that the European Commission acknowledges IFAD’s expertise in enabling poor rural  people to overcome hunger and poverty through increased food production.

He said “We are determined to achieve optimum results for the many  hundreds of thousands who   will benefit from the EU’s Food Facility  support.”