The World Bank has allocated approximately US$150 million for the second phase of its West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) in Ghana, Chad, and Sierra Leone.

Over one million individuals are expected to benefit from this five-year initiative, which aims to enhance food systems and risk management in the region, addressing shared challenges such as climate-related disruptions and natural disasters.

Implemented through Ghana's Ministry of Food and Agriculture and various partners, the FSRP will focus on specific value chains, including rice, maize, soybeans, and broiler poultry, across 55 districts and ten regions.

Anchored on sustainability, ownership, and public-private engagement, the program aims to strengthen digital advisory services, enhance agricultural innovation systems, and facilitate food trade in West Africa.

Pierre Laporte, the Country Director of the World Bank, emphasized the project's role in combating the global food and nutrition crisis and its potential to alleviate extreme poverty and malnutrition while safeguarding development gains.

“We all aim to ensure that the resources of this US$150million project are used in the most efficient way to reach the intended one million-plus beneficiaries, of whom 40 percent are intended to be women. It is also intended to continue expanding access to irrigation in the Kpong, Vea, Wheta and Tanoso schemes and inland valleys; increase adoption of climate smart technologies and services by nearly 250,000 farmers; bring digitised hydro and agrometeorological advisory services to at least 200,000 food systems actors; develop integrated landscape management plans and bring thousands of hectares of land under sustainable landscape management practices; and provide matching grants for agribusiness to maximise finance for development,” he said.

The project's coordinator, Osei Owusu Agyeman, highlighted that the Ghana component of the initiative will focus on rehabilitating crucial equipment and infrastructure, including the CSIR, Regional Centres of Excellence, Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), National Gene Bank, GLDB Seed Lab, and Veterinary Centers.

Additionally, the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) will facilitate inter-regional trade and knowledge-sharing through partnerships with ECOWAS, CORAF, and CILSS.

At the project's launch in Kumasi, Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah, representing the Minister of Food and Agriculture, emphasized the contribution of FSRP, similar to the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) phase-two, in enhancing the resilience of the country's food systems.

He expressed gratitude to the World Bank for the project and assured support from his ministry and other stakeholders to achieve FSRP's objectives.

“I call on all players in the value chain – civil society, the fourth estate, political players of all sides, traditional leaders, the youth and all passionate patriots – to come and join forces with us to wrestle food system risks hands-on until they are significantly subdued. I pledge my full backing for the task ahead, as we in Ghana play our efficient part in the charge against food system risks in the West African sub-region,” the minister added.