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The West Africa Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) was officially launched on June 15, 2022. This program, which was announced last November, is supported by the World Bank in Togo and six other countries in West and Central Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Chad).
It is a multisectoral initiative with a budget of $716 million whose goal is to “reduce the number of food-insecure people and strengthen the resilience of food systems,” the World Bank wrote in a press release issued on June 15, 2022.
In the long run, the program should directly benefit four million people, and it could be extended to the entire sub-region if the results satisfy the promoting institution.
Under the leadership of three subregional institutions, namely the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), and the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), the RFSR will improve agricultural productivity through investments in climate-smart agriculture and the regional agricultural research system.
In its first phase, whose implementation has just begun, the program will fund interventions in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Togo, as well as actions implemented by ECOWAS, CILSS, and CORAF. In the second (which should be approved by the World Bank in July 2022), actions in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Chad will be financed.
In addition to the World Bank, the FSRP is supported by external partners such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Global Risk Financing Facility (GRIF).
Ayi Renaud Dossavi