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ECOWAS, AFD sign agreements to boost food security
Hauwa Noroh, Ali, Abuja
Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed two grant agreements totalling 12.34 million Euros to boost food security and water resources management in West Africa.
Under the agreement, signed in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the AFD will provide 10.4 million Euros while the ECOWAS Commission will provide a counterpart funding of 1.94 million Euros.
The President of the Commission, Ambassador James Victor Gheho, 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.
Signing the agreements, on the sidelines of the ongoing 8th Annual Coordination Meeting between ECOWAS and its Development Partners, Gheho thanked the AFD for the financial assistance and called for a stronger and lasting relationship as the Commission strived to tackle food security and water resources management in the region.
Ambassador Dumond and Mr. Bonamour pledged Paris and AFD’s continued assistance to, and partnership with, the ECOWAS Commission towards the realization of the goal of a people-centred regional integration.
The project
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.
Strengthening water resources
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
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