The Feed the Future Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems (EnGRAIS) project for West Africa organized a regional training of trainers for fertilizer inspectors May 21-24 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and its success is already apparent.
Côte d’Ivoire has become an outstanding example of actively implementing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) best practices and recommendations to comply with Regulation C/REG.13/12/12. Compliance includes adhering to its implementing instruments, as well as following the procedures, methods, equipment, materials, and tools for fertilizer inspection and sampling.
Article 21 of regulation C/REG.13/12/12 stipulates that “Member States have overall responsibility for [fertilizer] quality control. To this end, they shall designate inspectors and other competent authorities and grant them the necessary powers and adequate resources.” To meet this objective, five members of the Seeds, Fertilizers, and Related Products department of Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development took the opportunity to participate in the training of trainers.
Before the training, Côte d’Ivoire had no quality control or inspection system for fertilizers in the field. The Director of Seeds, Fertilizers, and Related Products, Ya Silué Naminata, pledged at the end of the workshop to double her efforts toward a fertilizer quality control system in Côte d’Ivoire.
“We have major challenges ahead of us and we need to speed up the drafting of documents that will enable our agents to do their jobs properly. They need to be appointed, sworn in and, above all, equipped. This training has enabled us to understand that equipment is very important.”
Ya Silué Naminata, Director of Seeds, Fertilizers, and Related Products
This training was an effort to build the capacity of fertilizer inspectors and promote regional cohesion with a view to harmonize the application of fertilizer regulations. IFDC and EnGRAIS collaborated with the Commissions of ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), as well as the Executive Secretariat from the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) to organize this regional training of trainers for fertilizer inspectors on innovative techniques and procedures for fertilizer inspection and quality control in their respective regions. There was particular emphasis on the use of IT tools to facilitate data collection, plan inspection and sampling programs, and manage regulatory information. The importance of equipment was also emphasized, as Naminata noted, especially the choice of equipment and its appropriate use.
Now, less than two months after this training, Côte d’Ivoire has kept its word by appointing more than 200 fertilizer quality control inspectors. Arrangements are underway for the acquisition of equipment, and the inspectors will be operational by the end of August.
IFDC, EnGRAIS, and its predecessors, with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Mission, have helped the member states of ECOWAS, UEMOA, and CILSS amplify their efforts to effectively implement the harmonized regional regulatory framework.
In fact, Côte d’Ivoire has signed the very first country-specific legal instrument (Decree No 2023-440 of May 24, 2023) to undertake necessary measures for effective implementation, which includes the adoption of the remaining legal instruments, as prescribed by the relevant decree and regional regulations.
Côte d’Ivoire’s leadership in this area sets the stage for long-term improvements in fertilizer standards and agricultural outcomes across the region.
The Feed the Future Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems (EnGRAIS) Project for West Africa is one of the many assistance programs supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
