By Edouard Touré A consortium of actors has launched, under the aegis of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (Coraf), the Comprehensive Program for the Development of Agriculture in Africa ex-Pillar 4 (PDDAA -XP4), focused on science to build farmers' climate resilience.

Funded by the European Union and launched on November 12, the CAADP-XP4 will help Coraf and its partners to take advantage of science, technologies and innovations to advance food productivity objectives, explains a press release received this Wednesday at APA.

“This project is designed to deploy science and innovation to achieve an inclusive, sustainable and climate-responsive transformation of agriculture and related food systems in West and Central Africa,” said Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of Coraf quoted by the text.

The consortium of implementing actors includes the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (Fara), the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (Afaas), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East Africa and Center (Asareca) and the Coordinating Center for Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA).

CAADP-XP4 is administered by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“(…) the objective of CAADP-XP4 is to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in particular objective 2 (zero hunger), objective 5 (gender equality), objective 10 (reduce inequalities), Goal 12 (responsible consumption) and Goal 13 (combat climate change), as well as the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the Malabo Declaration", explained for his part , Dr Malu Ndavi, IFAD Chief Global Technical Specialist.

The total amount of the four-year grant is approximately €30 million for all implementing partners, with potential co-financing from IFAD and other organizations.

CAADP-XP4 is part of the Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) project, an initiative of the European Union.