By Felicia Imohimi

ActionAid says ECOWAS parliamentarians must engage with governments and ensure that public investments in agriculture is urgently scaled up in quantity and quality in strategic areas of post-harvest losses.

The organisation says this will ensure competitiveness of regional food products at the international markets and boost job creation within the region.

The Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi gave the advice at the 3rd ECOWAS Agriculture Budget Summit Interactive Session with the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja on Thursday.

Obi noted that ECOWAS parliamentarians would need to take their time to engage their different countries on the Biennial Review (BR) processes and on the right investments.

The director alerted that investments had continued to be low in strategic areas of extension services, access to credit, women and youth in agriculture, inputs, and post-harvest losses reduction supports.

Obi decried that in 2019 BR report, only Ghana and Mali were on track in the ECOWAS region.

“It is expected that Nigeria and other West African countries would be on track by the time the third BR report will be presented at the African Union Assembly early 2022.

“It is a cause for alarm if Nigeria that contributes about 51 per cent to total food supply in West Africa suffers post-harvest losses estimated to the tune of N3.5 trillion annually.

“Then, the post-harvest losses of each West African country will be quite high,” she said.

Obi specifically noted that annual EU subsidy to its food exports to West Africa was €235 million in 2019 for dairy products.

She said other subsidies were €205milion for cereals and preparations; and €97milion for poultry meat and preparations mainly to subsidise feeds consumed by poultry.

“All these factors have greatly reduced the competitiveness of regional food products and caused many job losses.

“Also, they led to lack of future for the young West Africans who are thus induced to risk their lives.

“Lives are risked either to try to reach the EU on small boats or to enroll in jihadist movements as a last resort.

“This will be worsened through the highly subsidised food imports through the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Economic Partnership Agreements,’’ Obi explained.

Mr Azubike Nwokoye, Food and Agriculture Programme Coordinator, ActionAid Nigeria noted that Nigeria needed to increase its local processing capacity.

Nwokoye said this was by investing a lot on cottage processing in different communities in the country and ECOWAS member states.

He said the purpose of the summit was to review the last Biennial Review Report and Performance of ECOWAS countries; and highlight current situation in agriculture investment and expenditure.