Solidaridad West Africa focuses on stimulating sustainable supply chains through innovations in production, marketing and trade relations, landscape management and policy enabling. In these efforts, Solidaridad simultaneously addresses food security, nutrition and community development.

Solidaridad West Africa operates in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The region has large tracks of arable land for food production. Unfortunately, all crop productivity is less than a quarter of optimum global averages. The region is among the hardest hit by climate change impact.

DEVELOPMENTS

Agriculture remains the main driver of economic development in the region. It accounts for a third of region’s Gross Domestic Product and employs on average 60% of the population. The model of agricultural growth in the region has been driven mainly by area expansion as opposed to crop intensification and use of technology.

CHALLENGES

Regional growth over the years has been hampered by a number of factors impacting negatively on productivity and livelihoods. Non-commercialized farming systems, land tenure, poor storage, poor transportation network and general degradation of natural resources are factors affecting agriculture.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Solidaridad's key achievements span across producer support programmes, voluntary certification, policy advocacy, food security, landscape management and smart sustainable land use. Some specific key achievements are described below.