Plate on the table

The French Development Agency (AFD) has signed two financing agreements totalling €20 million with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure food security in West Africa. The President of the ECOWAS and the Director of the French Development Agency in Nigeria signed the agreements on 29 May 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria. This financing will be dedicated to implementing two projects: the €11 million support to the “Local Milk Regional Strategy” to develop local dairy value chains in West Africa and the €9 million support to the West African Food Security Storage Strategy.

The ECOWAS and the French development agency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), deal exemplifies how regional partnerships can contribute to addressing the complex and interconnected challenges of food security and climate change in Africa. The AFD is aware that food insecurity remains a significant structural problem in ECOWAS, with 40 million people, out of its 308 million inhabitants experiencing undernourishment and chronic malnutrition. Additionally, millions of people in the sub-region are affected by food crises each year. For over a decade now, the AFD has been a steadfast supporter of the ECOWAS common agricultural policy. In 2005, ECOWAS adopted the Economic Community of West Africa Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP) as a regional response to these food-related challenges. The primary priority was to modernise agriculture, aiming for self-sufficiency and food security at the regional level. During the 2009 International Conference on Financing ECOWAP, attending partners, including France, expressed their support for the orientation, principles and implementing rules of ECOWAP. Although several developing partners have supported this policy, the food security and nutrition situation in West Africa has deteriorated significantly in the past decade, reaching worrying levels of hunger and malnutrition in 2023. The main drivers of this crisis are conflict, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and high food prices. One of the most affected sectors is livestock rearing, a vital income and nutrition source for millions in West Africa. Over a decade ago, the report of the Sahel and West Africa Club hosted at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Economic Community of West African States indicated that the livestock sector provided between 8 and 15% of overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 44% of agricultural GDP, and nearly 50% of the workforce engaged in the sector in West Africa. However, insurgencies in ECOWAS states (Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and the northern part of Ghana) have disrupted pastoral activities, forcing many herders to flee their homes and abandon their animals. Insecurity has also limited access to grazing land, water, veterinary services and markets. The loss of livestock assets has increased the vulnerability of pastoral communities to hunger and malnutrition. Moreover, it has reduced the availability and affordability of animal products such as meat, milk and eggs, which are essential for a balanced diet. According to the United Nations food agency, approximately 48 million individuals in western and central Africa are anticipated to experience hunger in the upcoming months. The factors contributing to this dire situation include efforts to control inflation, resulting in food shortages. Speaking at a press conference in Dakar, Senegal, UN officials highlighted that food insecurity had been predominantly driven by violence, economic repercussions from COVID-19 and inflation. Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria and Mauritania have been severely affected. The escalation of food insecurity in the region has reached its highest level in ten years, with coastal nations such as Togo and Benin requesting food assistance for the first time. Additionally, Ghana and Ivory Coast have millions of people facing hunger. Disturbingly, UN officials revealed that approximately 45,000 individuals in the Sahel region, an arid expanse below the Sahara Desert, are on the brink of starvation, just one step away from famine. Among them, the majority, around 42,000 people, are located in Burkina Faso, as reported by the officials. Towards the end of last year, when the repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were impacting developing economies, the World Bank took action to gather support for emergency responses in countries at risk of food insecurity in the Sahel and West Africa. The World Bank also announced its collaboration with humanitarian partners to monitor regional food insecurity and develop comprehensive Food Security Preparedness Plans. Addressing the challenge of enhancing regional food and nutrition security requires long-term strategies. Since food insecurity’s root causes and consequences transcend national boundaries, regional approaches are being embraced to fortify food systems’ resilience in Western and Central African countries. The World Bank’s Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP), a substantial investment totalling $716 million, exemplifies such an approach. Its primary objective is to benefit over four million individuals in West Africa by boosting agricultural productivity through climate-smart practices, fostering intra-regional value chains, and strengthening regional capacity to manage agricultural risks. It is clear West Africa’s food security requires more funding and technical support, and the signing of financing agreements between the AFD and ECOWAS is a significant step towards improving the region’s food situation. There has been widespread chatter about a budding French relationship with ECOWAS regional behemoth Nigeria under the new Tinubu administration, which is good. This collaboration holds the potential to have a positive impact in several key areas, ultimately contributing to enhanced food security. By investing in resilient and inclusive food systems, the deal can help improve the livelihoods and well-being of millions of people who depend on agriculture for their survival. The deal can also help reduce tensions and violence threatening stability and development by supporting regional integration and peacebuilding. And as French harder power recedes in the region, we expect to see an increase in softer power approaches such as this one. The newly signed agreement is welcome because it identified one key problem the West African sub-region faces: an acute food crisis. However, there’s so little that €20 million can do in a sea of challenges driven by the climate crisis and the attendant insecurity in areas primarily in the Sahel north. Most of the violence has been in the desert areas most affected by climate change. However, the coasts have begun to witness attacks in the past year, with incidents reported in Benin, Ghana and Togo. French military presence has hardly led to improved security in Mali and Burkina Faso, which has led the military governments in both states to kick out French troops stationed there since 2013 under Operations Serval and Barkhane. France has hardly taken this exit gracefully. This aid diplomacy can be seen as a way of keeping its foot in the door after changing strategy from direct security aid to agricultural assistance. But €20 million is not enough for just Nigeria, whose dairy needs are 1.7 million litres daily, 70% of which is imported. How this money would be distributed among the states is unclear; from the outset, it does not seem enough for one country’s agricultural sector’s needs. If the French believe this is a way to repair relations with its old stomping ground, it is only welcome if this is the first of many. However, geopolitical competition between the East and West, which has meant that France is more heavily invested in European economic security than ever in Africa, could mean that the money is a fertiliser. The planting and growth are left for the states to handle. More efforts are needed from all stakeholders, including governments, donors, civil society, the private sector and communities, to scale up and sustain these initiatives. Sub-Saharan Africa needs an estimated $30 to $50 billion each year for the next decade in climate adaptation costs, which requires increased mobilisation of domestic and international resources. Moreover, effective coordination, monitoring and evaluation are essential to ensure that the interventions are aligned with the needs and priorities of the beneficiaries and the global goals of reducing hunger and greenhouse gas emissions. The West African Food Security Storage Strategy project is expected to strengthen the regional food security system, consisting of three national, regional and local storage levels. The project will support creating and managing a regional food security reserve, complementing national reserves and serving as a last-resort mechanism in case of major food crises. It will also enhance local storage initiatives by farmers’ organisations and communities, strengthening their resilience and autonomy. Finally, the project will reduce regional food insecurity and malnutrition and foster regional solidarity and integration.