Food security and water resources management in West Africa received a major boost with the signing of two grant agreement totalling 12.34 million Euros between the ECOWAS Commission and the French Development Agency (AFD) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on early this month.

Under the agreement, the AFD will provide 10.4 million Euros while the ECOWAS Commission will provide a counterpart funding of 1.94 million Euros.

The project will provide direct support to the ECOWAS Regional Agriculture Policy (ECOWAP) and will, among others, help define and implement ECOWAS member states’ responses to food security crisis and ensure better food delivery to the poorest populations affected by such crisis. It would also address food insecurity by promoting market structures along borders of three neighbouring countries Benin, Niger and Nigeria — and the implementation of pilot projects to boost revenue schemes for farmers.

Other direct beneficiaries of the technical assistance are the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILLS) and the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAP).

The AFD is also providing another 400,000 Euros grant to strengthen the ECOWAS Water Resources Coordination Centre (WRCC) based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and which provides ECOWAS member states with policy definition and implementation in the water sector. The grant will specifically support the centre’s capacity building programmes and fund technical assistance.

The President of the Commission, Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, initialled the accords with the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Jean-Michel Dumond, the Permanent Representative of France to the ECOWAS Commission, and Mr. Luc Bonamour, the AFD’s Country Director in Nigeria. President Gbeho thanked the AFD for the financial assistance and called for a stronger and lasting relationship.