RICOWAS

West Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to a strong dependence on rainfed agriculture and limited economic and institutional capacities to cope with these impacts.

Rice, a staple crop, holds a central place and plays a decisive role in food security for both rural and urban populations. Yet, despite the Rice Offensive launched by the Economic Community of West African States, yields remain low, even with the existence of insufficiently disseminated and weakly adopted climate-resilient rice production techniques.

RICOWAS was designed with the ambition of introducing and scaling up an innovative approach to rice production, tailored to withstand the effects of climate change and to strengthen regional food security.

The project’s main objectives are to enhance climate resilience and increase the productivity of rice farming systems for smallholder farmers across West Africa, through the promotion and implementation of climate-resilient rice production approaches adapted to changing conditions.

In addition, the project seeks to strengthen the resilience and capacities of smallholder rice farmers, support the implementation and scaling up of Climate-Resilient Rice Production (CRRP), sustain a communication platform to foster effective knowledge sharing, and promote the creation of a coalition of partners at both national and regional levels.