In West Africa, a history of deficiencies in maize production is being addressed by a series of workshops to educate farmers on sustainable crop and natural resource management.

A partnership between the USAID-funded Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (ATP) project and CropLife Africa Middle East was set up last year to help farmers in the West African region to strengthen their agricultural input–output chains, in turn improving the livelihoods of the rural populations.

The programme involves sharing knowledge of sustainable farming practices, building business links to ensure farmers have access to agricultural inputs, and raising awareness of the need for ensuring that only quality agricultural products are supplied to the market.

In 2010, the project has started running five-day Integrated Pest Management (IPM) ‘training-of-trainer’ workshops, which are intended to create a greater awareness among farmers of the impact of poor soil fertility and pests, including storage pests. The workshops cover pest and disease control measures, promoting the correct usage of crop protection products. Participants at the workshops are then encouraged to go back and share their knowledge on IPM with other farmers to help boost their production. Such interventions aim at ensuring food security by supplying the food chain with healthy, affordable and varied diets and by transforming subsistence agriculture into small-scale enterprises.

Since April 2008, the ATP project has worked in West Africa to increase the value and volume of intra-regional agricultural trade in order to stimulate the region’s own marketplace. The ATP project was established under the framework of the US President’s Initiative to End Hunger in Africa and currently covers six countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo.