Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems (EnGRAIS) Project for West Africa : FISCAL YEAR 2019 ANNUAL REPORT (OCTOBER 2018 - SEPTEMBER 2019)
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Date
2019-10
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Abstract
To accomplish its four Irs related to a competitive and efficient supply system, an effective demand for fertilizer, an enabling environment, and harmonizing and supporting actions at the country level, EnGRAIS focused on the following six sub-Irs during the past year:
• Sub-IR 1.1: West Africa Fertilizer Association (WAFA) and other relevant regional private sector organizations’/associations’ management capacity increased and organizations sustainable;
• Sub-IR 1.2: Industry actors collaborating through multi-stakeholder platforms to improve supply chain efficiency and improve fertilizer affordability;
• Sub-IR 2.1: Fertilizer and seed recommendations updated and developed for targeted crops and agro-ecological zones (AEZs) across West Africa;
• Sub-IR 2.2: Comprehensive fertilizer and seed input packages promoted and marketed across West Africa;
• Sub-IR 3.1: Regional Fertilizer Subsidy Guidance endorsed by ECOWAS and disseminated to policymakers and industry stakeholders in Member States; and
• Sub-IR 3.2: ECOWAS regulation for fertilizer quality control published by all Member States and implemented at the regional level. The project also worked closely with its partners, including CORAF, WAFA, ECOWAS, the Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the Ministries of Agriculture of ECOWAS Member States to implement activities under the Irs and their sub-Irs during the period under review.
During FY19, EnGRAIS carried out the following major activities under IR 1:
• Updated the EnGRAIS and WAFA Joint Action Plan, extending it through September 2020. EnGRAIS Project FY 2019, Annual Report 3
• Assisted WAFA as they revised and finalized the new constitution and developed their fiveyear strategy. Both documents were endorsed during the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in April 2019.
• Supported WAFA’s facilitation of its successful Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Bamako, February 13-14, 2019. EnGRAIS also helped WAFA and Argus organize and host the third annual West Africa Fertilizer Forum (WAFF) in Lomé, April 24-26, 2019, which was attended by more than 200 delegates.
• Provided assistance to WAFA board members to complete the recruitment of personnel for the association’s coordinating unit; three full-time staff were hired and trained.
• Facilitated a five-year partnership agreement between WAFA and AfricaFertilizer.org (AFO) to collect, analyze, and disseminate fertilizer market information and data in West Africa.
• Initiated and supervised cost build-up studies across four major fertilizer trade corridors conducted by Nitidæ. The initial results and recommendations from these studies were presented during the WAFF and the reports were finalized during August 2019 (Q4).
• Supported WAFA through a grant to contract the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) to undertake a study on WAFA members’ access to finance that was a key element in the successful West Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum (WAFFF) co-organized in late September with the African Development Bank (AfDB)/Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM).
During the reporting period, the project carried out the following major activities under IR 2:
• In close collaboration with CORAF/PAIRED, developed and digitized at least 40 comprehensive agri-input packages, including information on improved seeds, appropriate fertilizer recommendations, and good agricultural practices (GAPs) specific to each crop and agro-ecological zone (AEZ), and incorporated them into the Fertilizer and Seeds Recommendations for West Africa Map (FeSeRWAM). To finalize these electronic packages, EnGRAIS and PAIRED organized and facilitated multiple meetings with key stakeholders to review and validate the data that supports the packages and worked with stakeholders to approve the design and dissemination plan.
• Finalized and launched the FeSeRWAM, a web-based interactive platform which provides farmers information on needed agricultural inputs and GAPs to increase their crop production. Presented the FeSeRWAM to stakeholders at the validation workshop in August 2019 in Dakar, Senegal.
During the past FY, EnGRAIS carried out the following major activities under IR 3:
• Transformed the Regional Fertilizer Subsidy Program Guide into a draft directive on fertilizer subsidy programs for ECOWAS’s endorsement. The directive incorporates all 13 principles and 36 recommended actions from the guide.
• Facilitated a UEMOA-sponsored regional workshop, with representatives from all eight member countries, as well as Chad and Mauritania, to share experiences in implementation of the regional EnGRAIS Project FY 2019, Annual Report 4 fertilizer regulations. A similar event was sponsored and facilitated by OCP Côte d’Ivoire to review the status of the regional regulations in the country and fast-track implementation.
• Collaborated with various regional/international partners to develop policy briefs on the implementation of ECOWAS fertilizer regulatory framework and quality of fertilizers traded in West Africa.
• Surveyed ECOWAS, UEMOA, and CILSS or Regional Economic Community (REC) Member Countries’ on the status of adoption of Regional Fertilizer Regulation C/REG.13/12/12. Produced a summary report for the REC Members and requested their political support to expedite implementation.
• Facilitated implementation and enforcement of ECOWAS fertilizer regulations and/or reforming their subsidy programs using the validated Regional Subsidy Program Guide in Benin, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo.
• Organized training programs on the new regional and national legal frameworks, procedures, and techniques for fertilizer inspection, sampling, and quality control for 62 fertilizer inspectors in Niger.
• Finalized the baseline assessments of fertilizer quality in Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Mali.
• Provided key inputs for and feedback on the draft five-year strategic plan for an improved subsidy program and improved quality of blended products being promoted nationwide under the Ghana Fertilizer Expansion Programme (GFEP)
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Keywords
Agricultural Inputs, Supply chains