A RICE FARM: Countries like Japan have invested heavily on food production, especially rice, and are giving out to poor African countries (Photo credit: Facts and Details) |
The
Principal Programme Officer ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment
and Water Resources, said these stakeholders must ensure that the region moves
from one of food deficit to that of food surplus.
Mr
Aubee was speaking at a three-day sub-regional council and board meeting in
Banjul organised by the west African Network of Peasants and Producers
Association (ROPPA) and the National Coordination Organization of Farmers
Association in the Gambia (NACOFAG) in collaboration with Aub-Rural, a
sub-regional civil society organization.
The
22-25 Feb., 2013 meeting aims to renew commitment and reflect on the importance
of policy linkages on the ECOWAS-Policy on Agriculture (ECOWAP) and the
Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and to
accelerate the implementation of actions at the regional level.
Top
priority
Addressing
the challenges of food and nutrition security remains a top priority if
countries are to achieve continental and global development commitments and
targets such as the CAADP and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mr Aubee
said.
He
explain that the complexities of the agricultural sector which are further
compounded by issues of climate change, global economic imbalances, skewed
terms of trade and growing levels of inequality and poverty - calls for a more
innovative and concerted approach to agricultural development in west Africa.
“The
ECOWAS Commission since 2003 has taken bold steps to put in place a holistic
policy for the development of the agricultural and rural sectors of West
Africa,” he said.
A
number of notable achievements have been registered in terms of increased
interest and investment in the agricultural sector at both the regional and
national levels, however, Mr Aubee noted that such initiatives are designed to
fast track the implementation of the RAIP - Rural Agricultural Investment
Programme and to serve as a platform for the acceleration of the National
Agricultural Investment Programmes (NAIPs).
Race
against time
These
policies and programmes are meant to ensure robust and sustainable structures
that can address the long-term food security needs of West Africa in a holistic
and sustainable manner, he said.
He
said in the face of the multiple and complex challenges of food and nutrition
security in the region, member countries must “race against time” by bringing
all hands on deck in order to achieve concrete and lasting results.
The
deputy permanent secretary Gambia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Alphu Marong noted
that this process is conducted in line with the CAADP guidelines and concerns
raised by Heads of State and Governments of the region.
The
promotion of such initiatives is to expedite the implementation of ECOWAP and
enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations exposed to recurring and
structural food and nutritional crises, he said.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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