Accra, Ghana -The United States Agency for International Development, West Africa Office (USAID/ West Africa) has signed an agreement with the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) to extend support for regional agriculture-related initiatives. The agreement, signed by Mr. Alex Deprez, USAID/West Africa Mission Director, and Dr. Djime Adoum, CILSS Executive Secretary, provides for an additional 21.26 million U.S. dollars focusing on productivity and food security, development policies, cross-border product flows, and research. 

“USAID and CILSS have maintained a long-standing partnership – for over 40 years – to support agriculture and food security in the region,” said Deprez. “Amongst other things, together we created a “cadre harmonisé” - a regional standard of assessment for food security, nutrition and vulnerability. We developed early warning systems for farmers so that they can better prepare for, deal with, and recover from ecological crises. And we established regular radio dissemination of other information critical to farmers, so they can maximize their production. We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with CILSS to improve agriculture in this region.”

While continuing assistance to previous initiatives, the new grant will also provide support in the areas of biosecurity; nutrition in public policy; integrating data bases on staple crop prices, stocks and markets for better data analysis; and the resilience initiative of the Global Alliance for Resilience (AGIR) Sahel and West Africa. In addition to CILSS, the grant will strengthen other institutions that play important role in the implementation of the of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC).

NOTES TO EDITORS: 

Composed of thirteen Sahelian and West African states, CILSS was created in 1973 to coordinate humanitarian relief efforts in times of drought and now has a broader mandate. CILSS, with headquarters in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, operates two regional centers: the Agro-Hydro-Meteorological Centre (AGRHYMET) in Niamey, Niger, and the Sahel Institute (INSAH) in Bamako, Mali.

The goal of USAID in West Africa is to promote social and economic well-being advanced by West Africans.  Spanning 21 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo) the USAID/West Africa regional office designs and implements programs with West African partners to strengthen systems of non-violent conflict management, support economic growth, and expand quality health services. The American people, through USAID, provide economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.usaid.gov/west-africa-regional.