Dr. Mabouba Diagne of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development talks to COVID-19 Africa Watch about the lessons of COVID-19 for improving food security in the West Africa region.

Key Takeaways

The following are a few of the main takeaways from COVID-19 Africa Watch’s conversation with Dr. Mabouba Diagne, Vice President of Finance and Corporate Services, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development:

• COVID-19 has been a wake-up call. Despite abundant arable land and water, African lands are still depend on imports for food products themselves as well as essential agricultural inputs.

• To address this problem, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development is currently in discussion with the West African Fertilizer Association to raise financing for building a fertilizer blending plant in West Africa’s coastal countries, and to build agri-input reserve warehouses.

• Building agricultural infrastructure and working towards regional or national independence when it comes to food security, food access, and food self-sufficiency, has become a must for African countries.

• Looking ahead, countries have an opportunity to make sure that the agricultural landscape changes, is modernized, and is community-backed to create jobs and opportunities for youth and women. African countries should strive to produce not only the food that Africa needs, but also to export in order to diversify their economies.

The interview was conducted by Ahmed Aboshock, an IFC-Milken Institute Capital Market Scholar from the Central Bank of Sudan.