PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Marie K. Thompson
DATE: November 26, 2003
A Regional Input
Market (MIR) Project Paves the Way for Regional Integration in West
Africa
Photo:
Mr. Moussa Toure, President
of the UEMOA Commission, and Dr. Amit H. Roy, IFDC President and
Chief Executive Officer, sign the Memorandum of
Understanding between UEMOA and IFDC.
 The
spirit of integration permeated the Conference Room of the West
African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso, on November 4, 2003.
It was the launching of MIR, a project aimed at promoting
agricultural development through the creation of a favorable
environment for a regional agricultural inputs market in West
Africa. “Timely,
relevant, and promising,” these were the words used to
characterize this project, which in the opinion of all is a
watershed for agricultural take off and economic progress in West
Africa.
MIR
is a 5-year project implemented by IFDC and funded by the
Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation. It
supports the efforts of UEMOA and the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) toward common agricultural policies.
Other partners include the following: the Network of Farmer
Organizations and Agricultural Producers of West Africa (ROPPA), the
Network of Chambers of Agriculture (RECAO), the Conference of
Ministers of Agriculture of West and Central Africa (CMA/WCA),
private input importers and dealers, and sector ministries.
Headquartered in Burkina Faso, the project also has offices
in Benin, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo.
This
project comes at a time when, under the pressure of globalization,
African agriculture is more than ever grappling with the challenge
to be more competitive both to feed a rapidly growing population and
to sustain national economies.
During
the project launching ceremonies, an ECOWAS official described the
constraints facing agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
ECOWAS’ Acting Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. M. Afolabi,
portrayed the situation in this way: “In spite of
the strategic role of agriculture in the economies of our member
states, the sector fails to satisfy local needs and remains poorly
competitive on the international market.
Inappropriate and obsolete farming practices, low use of
production inputs and farm implements, and poor organization of
actors result in stagnating and even decreasing yields and
production. This
results in promoting food insecurity and rural and urban poverty in
the subregion.”
Dr.
Amit Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer of IFDC stressed the
interlinked roles of the primary stakeholders.
“At the upstream and downstream of the production chain, a
well-functioning market is a determining factor,” Roy said.
“In this process, the private sector has a central role to
play by their active involvement and their ethical business
practices. Farmers also
have a crucial role to play through their organization for advocacy
and support. Governmental commitment to policy implementation and
investment in basic distribution infrastructures are important
requirements for success and donor support and a fair and just
international market system. But
it is not and would not always be easy to bring public, private, and
farmers’ interests together as equal.
What is critical is the parties’ willingness to work
together toward acceptable and sustainable solutions.”
UEMOA has high
aspirations for the MIR project, as outlined by that group’s chief
executive. “For UEMOA
and for ECOWAS, MIR is a precious instrument that can reinforce both
institutions’ efforts,” stated Moussa Toure, President of the
UEMOA Commission. “Our ambition for this project is to give rise
at the national and regional level to an economic environment
capable of supporting the emergence of a dynamic private sector for
the development of a sustainable regional market.
This project will protect producers and consumers in the
subregion through the harmonization of policies, standards and
quality control systems for fertilizers, seeds and pesticides.
We are pleased that IFDC and UEMOA have decided to join
forces to develop the synergies necessary and exploit their
respective comparative advantages.”
Officials in the
Burkina Faso Government fully understand the benefits to African
agriculture that can be realized through the MIR project.
The Minister of State for Agriculture, Fishery and Water
Resources of Burkina Faso, Honorable Salif Diallo, had this to say:
“To undo the bottlenecks that hamper efforts of our
resource-poor farmers, a common policy is indispensable to exert a
collective pressure on people, institutions, and circumstances. Building a regional economic integration requires concrete
actions similar to those on MIR’s agenda that are in line with the
goals of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The MIR project is an example of what we are expecting from
NEPAD.”
“Harmonized
policies and regulations and effective information systems will set
the stage for market transparency and competitiveness while imposing
and facilitating free movement of goods,” said Dr. Henk Breman,
Director of the IFDC Africa Division. “MIR’s
success also depends on strengthening the weaker links in the
production chain through training, information, and technical and
institutional support. This
will facilitate dialogue and strengthen linkages within the fertile
triangle—farmers and their organizations, the private sector, and
the public sector.”
The highlight of
the ceremony was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by
Dr. Amit Roy on behalf of IFDC and Moussa Toure on behalf of the
UEMOA Commission.
Participants
attended two presentations covering the following topics:
- The
Importance of Agricultural Inputs Supply for Cotton Producers:
The Connection to the Present Cotton Crisis” by François
Traore, President of the Union of Cotton Producers of Burkina
Faso and President of the Farmer Confederation of Burkina Faso.
- The
Challenges of Setting up Legislation for the Control of
Agricultural Inputs in West Africa: The Fertilizer Case, by
David W. Rutland, IFDC Senior Fertilizer Technology Specialist.
The MIR event
attracted about 150 participants from 10 West African countries,
representing ministries of agriculture/ regional
integration/cooperation, farmer organizations, trade associations,
donors, research and development institutions, and subregional
political and economic organizations.
In his closing
remarks, Sylvain Roy, Coordinator of MIR based in Burkina Faso
expressed the hope that “the dialogue platforms inaugurated this
day will lead to concrete and measurable actions that will improve
farmers’ access to external agricultural inputs at the end of this
5-year project.”
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