ECOWAS Partners World Bank, AfDB On Rice Independence by 2035.
By Ferdinand Olise
The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and its partners have held regional round table to mobilise resources to achieve rice self-sufficiency in West Africa by 2035.
The ECOWAS Commission said “Mobilising Resources to Achieve Rice Self-Sufficiency In West Africa” which is the theme of the Round Table on Investment in the Rice Sector in West Africa, was declared open by the Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana, Professor Jane Opoku-Agyemang in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Organised by the Department of Economic Affairs and Agriculture of the ECOWAS Commission, with the support of the World Bank and the African Development Bank, the Roundtable aims to mobilise public, private and blended finance to accelerate the implementation of national and regional action plans for investment in the rice sector, thereby advancing ECOWAS’s goal of achieving regional self-sufficiency in rice by 2035.
Highlights of the roundtable’s opening ceremony included addresses by the Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Eric Opoku, the Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Thomas Nyarko Ampem, the Vice-President for the Global Environment at the World Bank, Mr Guangzhe Chen, the Director of the Agricultural Finance and Rural Development Department at the African Development Bank, Mr. Richard Ofori-Mante, as well as a presentation on the ‘Vision for Rice Self-Sufficiency in West Africa by 2035’ by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Dr Kalilou Sylla.
In his address, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, noted that ECOWAS’ ambition is to establish competitive, inclusive and sustainable agri-food systems that strengthen food sovereignty, create jobs and promote shared prosperity, whilst achieving regional self-sufficiency in rice by 2035”.
