From December 2 to 5, 2019, ECOWAS will conduct an Assessment in Conakry, Guinea, of the level of implementation of the ECOWAP 2025 Orientations and Perspectives for the Development of the Agro-Forestry-Pastoral and Fisheries Sector for the next three years (2020-2022).

For the past three years, the ECOWAS Commission and the Member States have been implementing the second generation Regional Agricultural Investments and Food and Nutrition Security Program (RAIFNSP) and the National Agricultural Investment and Food Security and Nutrition Programs (NAIFSP) as part of the ECOWAP 2025.

Despite the tangible results obtained (increased production on a backdrop of improved productivity for some speculations, reduced severe food and nutritional crises), there are still issues that require a participatory and inclusive assessment of all stakeholders in the implementation of the Regional agricultural Policy orientations and operationalization instruments of the ECOWAP by 2025.

ECOWAS, through its Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development, has chosen this first week of December 2019 to review, at national and regional levels, the level of implementation of the NAIFNSP and RAIFNSP and appreciate the commitment of regional and national actors for the implementation of the Regional Agricultural Policy.

In addition, ECOWAS will take advantage of its presence in Guinea during this period to organize, following the ECOWAP 2025 Review, the first Meeting of the Management Committee of the Regional Food Security Reserve (9 December 2019) and a Regional Workshop on National Food Security Storage Policies (10-12 December 2019).

As a reminder, the operationalization of the Regional Food Security Reserve is part of the Regional Food Security Storage Strategy based on four complementary lines of defense: (i) the first line concerns local stocks, generally set up and managed by local organizations or decentralized communities, (ii) the second one is based on national security stocks managed by the States or co-managed by the States and their financial partners, (iii) the third line is the Regional Food Security Reserve and (iv) the call for international aid when necessary.

The Reserve was created in 2013 by the Heads of State and Government by Supplementary Act to the ECOWAS Revised Treaty to (i) complement the efforts of Member States to provide rapid and diversified food and nutrition assistance, (ii) express regional solidarity with Member States and affected populations through transparent, equitable and predictable mechanisms, (iii) contribute to food sovereignty and the political, economic and trade integration of West Africa.