How IFAD is Responding to the Opportunities and Challenges in West and Central Africa WCA Regional Implementation Retreat Dakar, Senegal 8 to 11 November, 2010

1. Building Success Together
How IFAD is Responding to the
Opportunities and Challenges in West and
Central Africa
WCA Regional Implementation Retreat
Dakar, Senegal
8 to 11 November, 2010

2. WCA – A diverse region
• 24 countries
• Populations ranging from under 200,000
to more than 135 million
• Rainfall from less than 10 cm per year in
the Sahara to more than 200 cm per year
in the Congo rainforest
• Agriculture varies from 10% to 50% of
economy, but in almost all countries
remains main source of employment

3. Growing Opportunities for
Agriculture in WCA and Globally
• Overall economic growth is increasing to Asian levels – 5
to 10% per year in many countries
• Improving political stability and reduced conflict is
building confidence for the longer term
• Almost half of workforce composed of young, better
educated women and men
• Rapid growth of urban markets – two largest African
cities are in WCA – Kinshasa and Lagos - with 8 to 9
million population
• The proportion of food marketed is expected to increase
by at least 50 percent by 2030
• Governments want to increase food sovereignty by
producing locally -particularly rice and other staples
• World prices for export and biofuel crops are good and
expected to remain strong

4. Agriculture production is
responding in all WCA countries

5. Increasing support for agriculture in
WCA under CAADP
• Donor and private sector financing for agriculture is
increasing
• Regional economic communities encouraging trade and
policy integration
• Governments are increasing own budget spending to
meet Maputo commitments
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
DRC
GuinnBissauCameroon
CotedÍvoire
CAR
Togo
LiberiaSaoT&PMaritaniaCapVerde
NigeriaB.Faso
Benin
TchadSenegal
Mali
Niger

6. Challenges remain for WCA
• Competitiveness constrained by poor quality and
high costs of transport (roads), electricity and
water
• ¾ of potential irrigated area in Africa is in WCA,
but only 5% is now under irrigation
• Less than 5% of the total population save or
borrow from formal financial institutions
(including registered MFIs)
• Many countries improving investment climate
but bureaucracy and other unofficial costs
remain high

7. IFAD Vision of Future of Rural
WCA
• Strong role of agriculture in supporting
accelerated growth at or above AU/NEPAD
target of 6% per year characterized by:
– Significant increases in investment in African
agriculture supply chains – domestic and foreign –
particularly for rice and cassava (food and biofuel)
– Rapid increases in agricultural production based on
extensive (large land deals) and intensive (irrigation
and technology transfer to smallholders) development
– Increased business activity and employment in rural
areas in ag and non-ag micro and small enterprises

8. An evolving role for IFAD in WCA
Moving from (but not away from)
strengthening collective action in poor rural areas
through CDD
to…
helping smallholders and rural poor to sustainably
escape poverty by becoming competitive providers
of goods and services in supply chains
while…
ensuring stability and sustainability of production
systems in context of climate change – particularly
in Sahara-Sahel zone

9. This is reflected in what we do
• Strengthening farmer organizations, financial
services, seeds and fertilizer access, and
infrastructure to support value chains – for
staple crops for local markets and and cash
crops for export and biofuels
• Continuing to support community-based
organizations to ensure voice and participation
of poor and vulnerable in economic opportunities
• Innovating and scaling up NRM and climate
adaptation through re-greening, better livestock
management, micro-irrigation, local renewable
energy

10. Who we work with
• Strengthen role of farmer organizations and links
with NGOs to ensure the poor are able to access
production services and markets on fair terms
• Continue to build capacities of ministries of
agriculture to set policies, provide public
services and monitor sector performance
• Increase partnerships with private sector to
ensure availability of high quality financial
services, inputs and market outlets

11. And how we work
• Decentralizing to better serve projects and
support sector policies (CAADP investment
plans)
– 4 subregional hubs with CPMs and CPOs – Dakar,
Yaounde, Accra, Brazzaville
– In addition, 6 country offices with CPOs – Nigeria,
Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Togo
– Regional services – WCA Regional Gender Specialist
in Dakar and financial assistants in all four hubs
• Strengthened regional team to support CPMTs
with COSOPs, lending, supervision and
implementation support and grants

12. Immediate challenges for us all
• Rapid mobilization of financing and co-
financing
• Increasing disbursements but ensuring that
we:
– Disburse with integrity (proct and fin. Mgmt)
– Disburse with quality (technical partners and
participation)
– Disburse with results (M&E)

13. Some projects which are achieving this
• Ghana – REP, RTIMP and NRGP
• Senegal – REP, PSAOP2 and PRODAM
• Mali – PIDRN
• Cote d’Ivoire – PPMS
• Nigeria – CBARDP
• Sierra Leone – RFCIP and RCPRP
• We believe all projects can stand-out as top
performers by next year

14. Some Key Challenges Going
Forward…
• Assessing markets – better quality identification
of opportunities and constraints using value
chain and other tools
• Balancing market opportunities with support to
the poorest
• Public-Private Partnerships – expanding role of
private sector in projects (financing, inputs,
technical support) while ensuring benefits for
IFAD target group
• Building the future of agriculture – farming as an
attractive business for young people

15. Our Vision of IFAD in WCA in 2020
• IFAD staff based in every country in WCA with
decentralized regional support in hubs
• Broader range of financing options to work with
both public and private sector
• Key agency linking farmer organizations and
governments with local and international
investors
• Preferred partner for those who care about
smallholder- gender-, youth- and environmental
friendly approaches to agricultural development

16. Thank you