Within the visit to the Republic of Niger, His Excellency Mr. Yerlan A. Baidaulet, Director General the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), is leading a delegation that includes i) Dr. Ismail Abdelhamid, Director of Programmes & Projects Office; ii) Mr. Abdula Manafi Mutualo, Senior Liaison Officer, iii) Mr. Sofian Ben Mouaddeb, Senior Country Manager, and iv) Mr. Abu Hussain Muhammad Kamruzzaman, Program Manager for starting the celebration of “2022 IOFS Year of Africa” with the holding of Capacity Building for 70 Farmers on Water Management in Agriculture, on 16 May 2022 in Niamey, Niger, under the high patronage of the local Ministry of Agriculture and in partnership with the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) and Women Development Organization (WDO).
The Opening Ceremony was presided over by H.E Mr. Alambédji Abba Issa, Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Niger, and counted with important statements by H.E. Mr. Abdoulaye Mohamadaou, CILSS Executive Secretary, H.E. Dr. Afnan Alshuhaiby, WDO Executive Director, read out by Ms. Rabiatou Ahmadou, WDO Senior Program Officer, and the IOFS Director General. All were unanimous on the understanding water management in agriculture was more crucial for the Sahel countries, which despite a significant hydraulic potential, continue to face difficulties in the implementation of projects and more particularly in the exploitation of facilities the irrigated agriculture sector offers, particularly with the understanding that a good management of water resources is essential to increase production and consequently to achieve better food security in which the IOFS had a vital role to play in supporting all concerned Member States affected by such unfortunate draught situation.
In this context and to cement the excellent relationship the IOFS and CILSS have since signing a MoU on bilateral cooperation in August 2019, a Joint Action Plan 2022 was signed by the two Heads of the respective Institutions to ensure that further collaboration in the form of implementation of joint events would take place within the framework of celebration of “2022 IOFS Year of Africa”.
Taking the opportunity for being at Regional Center of the AGRHYMET (Assessing sustainability and effectiveness of climate information services in Africa), a CILSS Specialized Institute, the IOFS Director General visited some of their important laboratories to address climate change challenges and pest control, which served to enrich the experience and acquire new knowledge in such areas that the IOFS also expects to develop appropriate programs for the benefit of its Member States.
It should be mentioned here that the training under reference will run for the whole day of 17 May 2022 and is being administered upon based on regional project entitled “Regional Support Project for the Irrigation Initiative in the Sahel (SIIP/PARIIS)” aimed at strengthening the development of irrigation in the Sahel. In the evaluation of the project in Niger, a significant deficit in the training of producers was noted and PARIIS Niger has placed the capacity building of producers at the top of its priorities during the year 2022 to partially fill such deficit of which the IOFS has embraced, particularly to also implement the MoU signed with the High Authority of Waqf in Niger (HAWAQF) in September 2021, where water management was identified as one of the main priority areas for intervention in Niger by IOFS.
In this context and to cement the excellent relationship the IOFS and CILSS have since signing a MoU on bilateral cooperation in August 2019, a Joint Action Plan 2022 was signed by the two Heads of the respective Institutions to ensure that further collaboration in the form of implementation of joint events would take place within the framework of celebration of “2022 IOFS Year of Africa”.
Taking the opportunity for being at Regional Center of the AGRHYMET (Assessing sustainability and effectiveness of climate information services in Africa), a CILSS Specialized Institute, the IOFS Director General visited some of their important laboratories to address climate change challenges and pest control, which served to enrich the experience and acquire new knowledge in such areas that the IOFS also expects to develop appropriate programs for the benefit of its Member States.
It should be mentioned here that the training under reference will run for the whole day of 17 May 2022 and is being administered upon based on regional project entitled “Regional Support Project for the Irrigation Initiative in the Sahel (SIIP/PARIIS)” aimed at strengthening the development of irrigation in the Sahel. In the evaluation of the project in Niger, a significant deficit in the training of producers was noted and PARIIS Niger has placed the capacity building of producers at the top of its priorities during the year 2022 to partially fill such deficit of which the IOFS has embraced, particularly to also implement the MoU signed with the High Authority of Waqf in Niger (HAWAQF) in September 2021, where water management was identified as one of the main priority areas for intervention in Niger by IOFS.
