Africa
ECOWAS Learns from the experience of setting up sustainable training capacity in local stock management in West Africa and the Sahel.
The regional capitalization workshop on the training curriculum for local stock management in West Africa and the Sahel opened in Cotonou, Benin this Tuesday, 25 February 2025.
The three-day workshop, which will end on 27 February 2025, is being organized by the ECOWAS Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food in collaboration with INADES-Formation.
Since 2015, ECOWAS has been implementing its regional food security storage strategy based on three complementary lines of defence: (i) local stocks set up and managed by local organizations or decentralized authorities, (ii) national security stocks administered by States, and (iii) the Regional Food Security Reserve (RFSR) managed by ECOWAS through the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food.
Local stocks are of paramount importance, as they represent the first line of defence against food and nutrition crises in the region. To enhance their effectiveness, ECOWAS is giving priority to developing the skills and professionalization of those involved in their management. With the support of the European Union, the Agence Française de Développement, AFD, and the World Bank, a training program has been developed to build the capacity of local players in the management of local stocks in the region.
According to Dossouhoui Gaston, Benin’s Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, who opened the workshop, “the storage of food products or livestock feed requires a great deal of care and skill. Setting up a regional training scheme for managers and technicians of local storage organizations is a highly relevant investment for the entire ECOWAS-UEMOA-CILSS region”. Minister Dossouhoui also stressed the need for the region to grow, store and sell livestock feed to producers.
A.I
Feb. 26, 2025
Tags: ECOWAS
