From 15-19 May 2023 in Niamey, Niger, the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) in collaboration with the Standing Ministerial Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), World Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in Sahel (CILSS), is organizing an international training workshop on “Addressing the Challenges of Food Security in the Sahel.”
The IOFS Director General H.E. Yerlan Baidaulet delivered a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the training workshop alongside H.E. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary Coordinator General of COMSTECH, Professor Godfrey, the Director and Founder of the Songhai Center in Benin, and Dr. Alambedji Abba Issa Minister of Agriculture of Niger.
The objective of the training is to focus on sustainable solutions to combat food insecurity and malnutrition. The workshop aims to enhance the resilience of small-scale food producers, shift to climate resilient agriculture, adopt native resilient crops, technologies, achieve higher productivity, minimize waste across the agricultural value chain, adopt technological solutions to have higher productivity of crops and reduce reliance on imported food. The participants included representatives from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
The training modules include:
- Climate Smart Agriculture
- Sustainable Use of Water Resources
- Enhanced Agriculture Productivity
- New Breeding Technologies
It is important to note that the Sahel region of West Africa is currently facing an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis. Sahel has cycled into periods of famine from unstable agriculture caused by drought. If appropriate measures are not taken, hunger and malnutrition could affect more than 38 million people. Deteriorating food situation is caused by multiple factors including climate change, land degradation, conflict, and the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. High food prices, conflict and displacement have driven millions of people into acute hunger and malnutrition.
