Under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Feed the Future Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems (EnGRAIS) Project for West Africa organized a workshop for The Gambia and Sierra Leone on the implementation and enforcement of ECOWAS Regulation C/REG.13/12/12. The regulation governs the quality control of fertilizer traded in West Africa. EnGRAIS is implemented by IFDC and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The workshop, with the theme “Facilitating the Development of Country-Specific Fertilizer, Supporting Regulations for The Gambia and Sierra Leone,” was held during March 25-29, 2019, in Conakry, Guinea.
The overall objective was to ensure alignment with ECOWAS Regulation C/REG.13/12/12 by The Gambia and Sierra Leone through the sharing of knowledge and good practices regarding the development of country-specific regulations and effective drafting sessions. It is being facilitated by Mr. Emmanuel K. M. Alognikou, Fertilizer Policy Expert for the EnGRAIS project, and a resource person from the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana.
The participants are delegates (appointed by national governments) with technical skills in the field of fertilizers and fertilizer quality control or advisory assignments. They include representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture from the department responsible for fertilizer quality control, including fertilizer testing and/or research; private sector fertilizer suppliers; Legal Advisor/Counsel to the Minister of Agriculture, Office of the Attorney General, or Ministry of Justice responsible for legal review of drafted fertilizer regulations; farmer organizations; Ministry of Trade/Commerce/Industry; Ministry of Finance; and Ministry of Environment.
Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth and trade that increase incomes and reduce hunger, poverty and undernutrition. For more information, visit www.feedthefuture.gov.
The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) began in 1974 with the mission to improve soil fertility and crop nutrition in tropical regions. Since then, IFDC has grown to encompass an array of agricultural solutions – from market development to policy advocacy, fertilizer technology development to project implementation in the field, and farmer mechanization to micronutrient research. In West Africa, IFDC works in close partnership with national and regional institutions, the private sector, and smallholder farmers through multiple projects such as: Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship (2SCALE), AfricaFertilizer.org, Communal Approach to the Agricultural Market (ACMA2) in Benin, Niger Fertilizer Sector Reform and Technical Assistance for Implementation of the Reform Plan (PARSEN), Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), Smallholder Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (SAPEP) as well as the Upscaling Fertilizer Deep Placement and Micro-Dosing Technologies (FDP MD) project in Mali.
EnGRAIS is one of the many assistance programs supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The five-year (2018-2023) regional fertilizer development program aims to support African-led regional institutions to address critical issues that constrain the effective supply and use of agricultural inputs in West Africa.
