The ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Ousseini Salifou, says a draft pilot project on food security within member countries would be concluded by 2013.
Salifou stated this on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
The commissioner, who spoke through an interpreter, said the project was aimed at finding out the cause of food shortage in the sub-region and work out modalities to address it.
Salifou listed Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali as countries that would be involved in the draft project.
He said the outcome of the draft project would be presented to ECOWAS Heads of State for approval.
“If they approve it, we will go ahead and implement it across the 15-member states,” he said.
The commissioner said the outcome of the project would help support the ECOWAS agricultural policy as well as the implementation of each member country’s national investment programme on agriculture.
He said the commission was working on the project in conjunction with the Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel and Water Resources Coordination Centre based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
NAN recalls that the ECOWAS Commission and the French Development Agency recently signed a 12.34 million Euro grant agreement to help boost food security and water resources within the sub-region.
Salifou said the grant would help the commission in the planning and implementation of the draft pilot project.
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Food security: ECOWAS to conclude work on draft pilot project in 2013