As part of the implementation 2013 activities of the Feed the Future Program of the American agency USAID, Dr. Ernest Asiedu went to Accra on behalf of CORAF / WECARD to meet with representatives of USAID-Ghana. In concrete terms, the purpose of this meeting was to improve cooperation between CORAF/WECARD and representatives of USAID in Ghana, in particular concerning the implementation of WASP (West Africa Seed Program) and Climate Smart Agriculture.

The basic idea was to create synergies between CORAF/WECARD’s regional activities and actions taken by USAID-Ghana. The meeting, held on 22 February, also involved other regional programs (USAID/WA, IFDC Fertilizer Program-West Africa, CILSS), in order to improve coordination.

The importance of regional activities in increasing agricultural productivity has been emphasized and areas of collaboration were identified between CORAF/WECARD and USAID-Ghana. The production of breeder seed, the support to quality control, and building capacity for the implementation of the ECOWAS seed regulatory framework, the support to seed marketing studies, the development and use of regional seed database and the development of seed industry action plan for Ghana are tracks that have been discussed in the framework of the WASP. On Climate Smart Agriculture, the scaling-up of Integrated Soil Fertility and Water Management (ISFWM) practices and stress tolerant and nutritionally enhanced varieties was considered.

In order to continue efforts, two more meetings are already scheduled, respectively with USAID- Senegal on 15 March and with USAID-Nigeria on 14 April.