MIR Plus Newsletter September 2010

Quarterly Newsletter aI MIR Plus. an ECOWAS - UEMOA Project Implemented by IFDC

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MIR Plus strengthens farmers' capacity in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Nigeria demonstration plot s and training programs in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria to expose ~ "m,dl-scale fanners to new technologies and production practices that would lead to increase in yields and

MIR Plus strengthens farmers' capacity in G hana, BUn<ina Fosoand Nigeria

_ MIR Plus and IFDC NRM Program troin trainers

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UDP technology

promotion in West Africa

-.. ECOWA$ and UEMOA leQol services continue

reviews

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S"upporling

Regulations validated by nolional experts

In Ghana, through its collaboration with the s part of its interventions aimed at stren g thening AGRA-funded Ghana Agro -dealer A frica farmer s ' capa c it y t o Development (GADD) and DGISeffectively procure and use agri- funded 1000 s+ project s, 126 ' " MI R Plus train enumerators and agrodealers on input price collection in West inputs, MIR Plus proje c t i s demonstration plots were carried out Africa collaborating with IFDe projects to with agro-deaJers' networks for farmers facilitate the setting up of in the Northern and Western regions.

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aod UEMOA assess the quality 01 fertilizers traded in West

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' " ECOWAS and UEMOA initiote the rocess of developing a region al ertilizer quolity control regulatory scheme

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increased agriCUltural production, they can be harmful. To limit the harmful - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 'impacts, protect s takeholders' invesnnent and stimulate research and Editorial '" Dear Partners., The m a j 0 r development, the production, challenge of distribution and use of pesticides are agriculture in regulated in different countries.

We s t A f r i c a National regulations, together with d uri n g the international instruments such as the coming decades intcrnational codc of conduct, thc is to meet the Rotterdam, Stockholm, the Bamako fooddemandofa and the Bale Conventions, the g row log Montreal Protocol create a sound and population mat is responsible platform for the inc re a s in g I Y management of pesticides, focusing on u r ban i zed. the safety of users and consumers, as Meeting Ihis challenge will be well as on the environmental impact. achieved by improving agricultural Product registration, permitting sale productivity through the use of within a defmed geographic location innovative technologies. including (ecological zone, or country or region) pesticides (currently. 20-40 percent of is based 00 comprehenSive safety crop productioA is often lost due to assessments and defined product uses. pests anddi.....s), The regional legal framework for While essential to pesticides initiated by ECOWAS and

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UEMOA which essentially harmonizes national frameworks aims to ensure that only high quality pesticides with minimum risks to human health and the environment are s upplied to the market while broadening market opportunities and stimulating research and development.

To date, the pesticide industry has fully supported the harmonization initiative as demonstrated by its financial aod technical contribUlion in the process.

Our support hinges on the hope that a regional legal framework for pesticides will be effectively implemented. Such a framework should combat counterfeit and unregulated pesticides through repressive measures against such malpractices in order to create a sound business environment and therefore stimulate private investment. CropLife Africa Middle East represents the plant w..Y_n 2

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science industry. Its members are major pesticide producers, both in rcsearch and development and biotechnology products While cncouraging ECOWAS and UEMOA, CropLife calls for a reasonable acceleration of the on-going adoption process and more efforts to sensitize stakeholders and member States on "hat IS being adopted. CropLife pledges to continue to share knowledge and expertise for the responsible use of pesticides to increase agncultural productivit) Such collaborations between ECOWASIUEMOA and the pmale sector will undoubtedly lead to the development and/or adoption of appropriate tools or measures to sustain agricultural productivity and food securit) In tum, these will contribute to efforts to alleViate hunger, reduce poverty and Improve the hvehhoods of the rcgion's populatlOn.

especially the concept of using certified seeds of improved varieties.

A farmer, Abduli Ibrahim from Bugbalee, Northern Region of Ghana said he had learnt a lot from the demonstration plots and field days; "From what we have seen, the Etubi hybrid is a good variety of maize.

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When other varieties ofmaize cropped OmI·frrmtPll These demonstrations targeted over in the community were experiencing 1000 farmers to expose them to the moisture stress, this olle looked strong yield potential of a new improved and healthy. I will plam the same one next year", headded. maize variety called Etubi and to the importance of using certified seeds.

Etubi is a quality protein high- yielding In addition to the setting up of variety of maize that is toleraO! to demonstration plots, the MIR Plus drought and to the streak disease. For project also supported agro-dealers educational and demonstrative participation in an input fair at Kpongu purposes, field days were organized on in the Wa municipality in the Upper the established plots during planting West region of Ghana organized by and fertilizer application; farmers were Emergency Rice Initiative (ERl). The taken through the advantages of good fair which brought together 334 agricultural practices such as row farmers and 3 agro~dealers created planting at correct planting distances, linkages between small~scale rice the use of fertilizer at correct rate and producers and agro-dealers. On time, and timely weeding. These field display at the fair were improved seeds days were organized in collaboration and various agro-chemicals. with Extension Agents of the Ministry In Burkina Faso, through 1000s+, an of Food andAgriculture.

IFDC project working on value chain, Agro-dealers involved in the the MIR Plus project is collaborating establishment of these demonstration with the apex fanners' organization plots took the opportunity to interact (FEPAB) to support demonstrations of with participating fanners to talk about the yield effect of specific fertilizer their products. Just as the agro-dealers application on maize. Four villages were excited about the marketing from two provincial Unions (Houet channels that these demonstration and Kenedougou) are the sites of the plots are opening for them, farmers demonstrations. Twelve (12) farmers kept praising the Etubi variety and the (10 men and 2 women) host these knowledge gained. This initiative demonstrations. The first field day provided a platform that facilitated the visit gathered about 60 farmers (men creation of good linkages between and women) to show some well small-scale fanners and agro-dealers developing crops. Other field days are planned. as well as enhanced knowledge

Simi larly, in Nigeria, the MIR Plus project in collaboration with the 1000s+ project set up 32 demonstration plots in Jigawa and Gombe. In addition, the project organized twelve (12) trainings that involved 340 Producers' Organizations (PO) leaders from the same locations where the demonstrations plots were set up; and in Kaduna on the safe use and handling ofagro chemicals as well as demand pooling and agri-input procurement. Each of the trained POs leaders was empowered technically and financially to organize step-down trainings to at least 100 fanners within their locality.

The impact of the demonstrations and trainings has already begun to manifest among the Pos in Gombe and Jigawa States. For example, upon seeing the effects of the ISFM treatment on millet in the Gagarawa millet cluster in Jigawa State, a fanner, Muhammad Adamu adopted the ISFM technology on cowpea in the same manner the millet demo was established. He says "/ have benefitted from this training and learnt new ways of doing thillgs.

When 1 saw how well the crops planted were dOing, I decided to try the technology on Cowpea (which is a crop not planted by farmers in that locality) to see ijlSFM can work 011 other crops apart from Millet". According to him, he got a fallow land abandoned by farmers because of poor soil and used it for trial and it was very successful as the crop performance so far shows that they will have a higher yield.

Also, during tbe training on demand pooling, a woman fanner in Jigawa State proposed to her colleagues that Colli. CNI PrJ

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they should save two bags of sesame each at the end of the current growing season towards the procurement of fertilizers for next year. Her proposal was unanimously adopted by her and other POs.ln Tula, Gombe State on the other hand, a PO that had a project of advancing micro credit to its members started to arrange with the resource person who happened to work with a major fertilizer company in Nigeria on the modalities for the direct purchase of fertilizer from the company. A beneficiary of the safe use of pesticides training in Gombe State was able to avert an agro chemical accident in his village when he witnessed a farmer spraying courage pesticide on his cowpea farm while a child was playing with tbe empty container of the chemical in the direction where the wind was blowing. This trained farmer quickly alerted and educated the farmer on the danger he was exposing himself and his child to.

MIR Plus and IFoe NRM Program train

trainers on the uOP technology promotion in West Africa

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n an effort to boost domestic rice production in West Africa, IFDC through the collaboration of the MLR Plus project and its National Resources Management (NRM ) Program has been testing the Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology in irrigated rice schemes in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. As reported in our previous issue, these tests have been showing encouraging results. While the project plans to organize a regional meeting to discuss these results, it is already developing a strategy with major stakeholders for expanding thi s technology to a larger scale in areas with proven high potential. However, urea granules are up to now produced with machines imported from Bangladesh. Hence, the smooth and wide expansion of this technology will require that capacity be developed (i)

to produce and supply urea briquettes to meet its emerging demand from rice producers adopting it, and (ii) reproduce the urea briquette processing machines. It is in this context that the project facilitated a training workshop for regional experts on UDP technology and the production of briquettes from the 51b to the 1011>. of July 2010 in BoboOioulasso, Burkina Faso. The purpose of the workshop was to: (a) familiarize

Faso, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo) attended the training workshop. Participants were taken through classroom sessions, field visits to the Kou Valley in the village of Barna for practical applications and group sessions to identify and review strategic elements for the large scale UDP technology extension plan in the pilot countries as well as other African countries.

The training enabled participants to gain insights on the UDP demonstration tests, In assembling the different pans oft h e briquetting machine and on operating it. In addition, they learnt how to produce urea, NPK and OAP granules. The trained regional experts are ParficiplUllS Jeami~g /woi 10 operalt 1M hril!lIttlt /llaClrillt during 1M expected to VDP lraillillg worh4op in lJobo.DiowJaJso. Bllrkilw Fll!io step-down the participants with the technical, training received in their respective agronomic and rxonomic principles countries. determining UDP efficiency; (b) train participants on the operation and During discussions and exchanges on maintenance of the briquette machines how to promote the UDP technology and (c) train participants on the use of on a large scale in the region, applicators to reduce labor during the participants recommended (i) adaptive briquette deep placement into the rice research to boost and expand UDP technology; (ii) building stakeholders fields. capacity through workshops, exchange visits, study tours; (iii) extension of the technology to other crops; (iv) promotion oft h e technology through demonstration and guided field visits; (v) involvement I nan d ParnCl/JaIW doing proctictlllJPPlicaliOlu of J/1l'Il lupu grlJlluJeJ into ria fieJib sensitization r1unngfitkhi1it 10 K(Itl Vtlller lJobo.DWukmo This training was conducted by a team of national decision makers to the of experts assembled by IFDC and implementation of promotion from Bangladesh where the UDP activities; (vi) introduction of adapted technology was first successfully applicators and machines and (vii) the experimented. About 30 participants involvement of the sub-region funding from public and private institutions in institutions. the 8 pilot countries (Benin, Burkina 3

ECOWAS and UEMOA legal services continue reviews of Supporting seed and pesticide Regulations validated by national experts

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uring the first phase of the project, ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions adopted two Regulations that govern the production and trade of seed and pesticides in West Africa. In addition, a

number of Supporting Regulations were technically validated by Member States' experts and other stakeholders.

These Supporting Regulations needed to be finalized from a legal point of view before they can be submitted for adoption by the Commissions. To this end, a working session of ECOWAS and UEMOA legal services was organized with the MIR Plus project technical support on the 17-22 August 2009 in Lome, Togo. On the 1alb to the 16111 of May 2010, another working session of ECOWAS and UEMOA legal services was held and facilitated

by MIR Plus in Bamako to review some of the remaining supporting legal instruments already validated. A total of six supporting legal instruments were reviewed and finalized: (a) Supporting Regulation related to the mission, composition and jUnctioning of the West Africa Seed Committee; (b) Supporting Regulation related to administrative documents model as part of quality control, certification and trade of seeds in West Africa; (c) Supporting Regulation related to organisation of the West Africa Seeds Catalogue: (d) Supporting Regulation related to the mission, composition and functioning ofthe West Africa Pesticide Registration Committee; and (e) Supporting Regulation related to

Pesticide!! 0/1 sale in lUI agrtHfealer shop in Kailuna, Nigeria

administrative documents model as part of pesticides registration. The workshop also reviewed the Supporting Regulation related to trial protocols for pesticide registration.

The next steps of this process are the subm ission of these supporting Regulations to the Commissions for adoption. Concomi t antly, the ECOWAS and UEMOA legal services will be reviewing the remaining supporting legal instruments on pesticide trial protocols and labelling, preparing draft conventions for the joint-implementation of seed and pesticide frameworks by ECOWAS, UEMOA and CILSS.ln addition, with

the project support, ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions will intensify the sensitization of Member States on the content of the instruments adopted and the implications for Member States and stakeholders. It is expected that, in early 2011, the process of setting up the aforementioned regional regulatory committee would have commenced.

To sensitize stakeholders on the meaning and implication of the legal instruments that are being validated and adopted in this process, Mme F. Sy Ouado Sawadogo, a senior statT of the UEMOA legal services department granted the following interview to the project.

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s Sy Sawadogo is a legal expert with the UEMOA Commission since 2003.

Since 2005, she has been part of the legal team supporting the process of harmonizing national regulatory frameworks for seed andpesticides.ln this interview, Mrs. Sy Sawadogo provides a legal perspective on the debate about the legal implications of the Regulations that UEMOA and ECOWAS adopted.

For member States, what is the legal Significance of the Regulations on seed and pesticides ECOWAS and UEMOA adopted?

To answer the question, it is important to recall what a Regulation is in the legal framework of

Mrs Sy SowadQgQ. SeniQr legal expert, UEMOA CQmmissian

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the two institutions. As stated in Article 43 of the UEMOA Treaty and in article 9 of the Supplementary Protocol AlSP.1I06/06 amending the Revised Treaty ofECOWAS, a Regulation has a general application. It is directly applicable in Member States and all its provisions are binding. It is applicable simultaneously and uniformly because it is a legal instrument which automatically becomes part of the national legislation in order to avoid differences in interpretation.

Moreover, the Regulation creates a unifonn framework that is common to all.

the Regulation and compromise its simultaneous and uniform implementation in the entire Union or the ECOWAS space is contrary to the Treaties. The transposition can create differences of interpretation, which is likely to alter the nature and scope of the Regulations.

Member states don ~ need to domesticate dopted Rer.ulations

What therefore is the legal value of any national law on seeds and In view of what you have just said, do pesticides a Member State may want member States still need to enact a to enact or has already enacted to national law to domesticate and domesticate these Regulations? implement these Regulations?

There is no need for member States to transcribe or more accurately to transpose these Regulations into their national legislation. Indeed, any practice or implementation modality that might obstruct the direct effect of

Based on what I have just said, it is clear that any transposition or domestication in any fonn whatsoever of these Regulations is contrary to the Treaty. Thus, any law to transpose these regulations shall be nul1, void and deemed void.

Is this not a violation of member States' sovereignty to enact their own laws?

In response to this question, I will simply say that, in areas for which a Regulation is adopted, member States have effectively delegated their sovereignty to the member States at the benefit of the Institutions, as they directly legislate in member States through these norms.

What does UEMOA do to sensitize and educate member States on these legal issues?

The Commission organizes workshops and various meetings to create awareness among opinion leaders, students, legal practitioners and university professors on the Union's activities and legal instruments. The Commission also takes advantage of meetings organized by various departments to make presentations on its legal instruments-

ECOWAS and UEMOA assess the quality of fertilizers traded in West Africa

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here are very few systematic studies on the quality of fertilizer traded in West Africa.

The most recent, which dates back to 1995 and which was conducted by !FDe showed that, though in general the physical properties of traded fertilizers are acceptable, 43% of products were nutrient deficient, 58% were deficient in weight, and adulterated products were commonly found in the market. This study attributes these problems to the absence of regulatory frameworks and/or their effective application.

Several anecdotes confmn that these problems still prevail in markets and, consequently, a great quantity of fertilizers traded in West Africa is of poor quality. As a result, for many fanners the expected yield effect is not realized and this limits the return on their investment on fertilizers.

Recognizing the importance of the link between fertilizer and the quality ofour environment, as well as the fact that regular supply of quality and affordable fertilizers to markets in Member States is a prerequisite for achieving food security and improved living standards for farmers, the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions

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have initiated through the MlR Plus project a multi-country study to update facts about the quality of fertilizers traded in West Africa with the objective to sensitize Member States on the need to strengthen the control of products' quality.

The fertilizer quality assessment focuses on the same set of Member States used for the pesticide quality assessment described in the previous issue (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Senegal). As was done for pesticides, the fertilizer quality assessment investigations were carried out in September-October by the national regulatory services.

Unlike with pesticides, the fertilizer quality assessment includes the chemical analysis of products. Prior to launching field investigations, the project organized a very successful consultative meeting with representatives of the selected regulatory services in Ghana on the I" and 2Do! of June 2010 to develop a consensus on the data and sample collection methodology.

To date, the fertilizer data and sample collection is near completion and

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analysis will be carried out by the project in a designed laboratory in West Africa. The findings of both the fertilizer and pesticide studies will be discussed by the end of20 10 at the first session of two regional validation workshops for the regional fertilizer and pesticide regulatory schemes.

It is anticipated that some of the Member States will take advantage of this study to organize national sensitization workshops and campaigns_

For YOllr II/jin-maliol/ Publications: ECOWAS. 2009. Implementation of ECOWAP: Mobilizing and federating programs. Kindly contact rui_silva@yahoo.fr ECOWAS. 2010. Regional investment plan to implement mobilizing programs (20 I 0-15).

Kindly contact rui_silva@yahoo.fr !FDC. 2010. Directory of Ghana agri-input dealers.

Contact jbiney@hotmail.com

Bll(kina Faso, Mali, Niger, Cote d'l oire and Senegal in co ll aboration wi th RES I MAO and with national agro -dealers associations in Ghana (GAABIC), Guinea Republic (APIDA) and Nigeria (NOCAlDA),

distribution of the agriinput information and data, a relevant list of key Agricultural Information Systems seed, fertilizer and pesticide (AGRlS) intensified last quarter with products to be monitored, and the list technical meetings and national oflocations where the information will roundtables held with agro-dealers and be collected. Subsequently, the MlR public sector representatives in Benin, Plus project organized capacity building workshops in 7 countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Cote d'lvoire, Senegal and Burkina Faso) for 162 agro-dealers and 63 enumerators on agri-input price data collection. Part of the trainings included lectures on the methodology for agri-input price data collection, use of the data price carried out by a consultant supported collection template, use of Ms Excel by a project staff and in collaboration and internet operations. The agroof national fertilizer regu latory dealers also visited agri-input shops services. The main expected outputs of where they tested the skills acquired on this study is the production of (a) a price data collection. This effort is diagnostic report inCluding the already yielding impressive results as evaluation of existing analytical and the trained agro-dealers and inspection capacities in ECOWAS enumerators have commenced Member States, and (b) a prescriptive collection of agri-input prices and report consisting of draft regional legal monthly price tables are currently instrument relating to the quality being produced and shared with agrocontrol of the fertilizers produced and dealers involved in the collection.

Discussion with ECOWAS and traded in West Africa, a draft fertilizer RESIMAO are underway to adapt the analysis manual and draft fertilizer RESIMAO platform to allow a much inspection manual. wider and sustainable dissemination of these prices.

These outputs are currently under review at the project level and will ~EDITORIAL TE soon be submitted to the ECOWAS and UEMOA department in charge of Georges Dlmlthe Project leader agriculture. It is anticipated that the francls Dabl,e communication Specialist ECOWAS and UEMOA Comm issions vera Onyeaxa Communication Specialist will submit these documents to a technical validation by stakeholders in Feedback a regional workshop to be held by the Please send your letters, opinions and endof20 10 . comments to the Project Leader at gdimitbe@ifdc.org

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he project efforts to facilitate the coil e c t ion and dissemination of agri-input technical and market infonnation within the framework of ECOWAS

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At these meetings, participants discussed and validated a proposed methodology and tools for the collection, transmission and

ECOWAS and UEMOA initiate the process of developing a regional fertilizer quality control regulatory scheme

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fter seed in January 2004 and pesticide in April 2005, the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions have now initiated a process to harmonize national fertilizer legal frameworks through the adoption of a regional scheme they will support to ensure effective implementation. To this end, through the MIR Plus project, ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions launched an assessment of the legal environment governing fertilizer trade in West Africa in July 20 I O. While the anticipated legal frameworks is being developed to cover the entire ECOWAS region, the field visits that guided its development were limited to nine (09) countries consisting of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. This effort built on the initial work carried out by IFDC in Ghana (2000-01), Burkina Faso (2003-04), Nigeria (2003-04) and Mali (2003-05). assessment which was fully funded by the M: IR Plus project was ECOWAS COMMISSION Rut Sliva Email.sl......_rui@yahoo. com

IFOC NIGERIA: G<!>orgoes D,mi\he

Tel; +234 - 80 73 81 4«8

Tel: +234 - 70 38 974713

Email: gdjm,IheC ifd(:.org

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IFOC BURKINA: Bocar Oiagana Email ; bd,agana@ifdc.org Tel: +228 50 37 450305

IFOCGHANA:

UEMOA COMMISSION

M.... lompo Email: mIompo@,ldc.org Tel: +233 - 54 5224905

Email: kboooumG/UemoII. int Tel: +226 - 50 32 88 59

Kolado Bocoom