AGRA and Pegasys are Considering Developing a Financing Proposal for RE-GAIN project

On the morning of Thursday June 6th, 2024, a regional consultation workshop for the RE-GAIN program (Developing solutions to combat food loss in Africa) was held in Bobo-Dioulasso by AGRA. The opening of the work of this workshop was chaired by Basile Ouédraogo, representing the Designated National Authority of the Green Climate Fund in Burkina.

Initiated by AGRA and Pegasys, this meeting, which brings together stakeholders in the agricultural sector, aims to globally assess and prioritize the climate risks that Burkina Faso is facing, by specifically analyzing their impact on the agricultural sector and the food losses that result from it.

The RE-GAIN program aims, according to Abdoulaye Ouédraogo, program manager at AGRA, to strengthen the climate resilience and adaptation capacity of small farmers

He added that the RE-Gain project also promotes solutions to reduce food losses on a large scale in seven African countries, including Burkina Faso. For him, this initiative constitutes a crucial opportunity to fight against post-harvest and food losses in Africa. Something which, he said, mobilizes resources from the Green Climate Fund and implements concrete actions on the ground.

“Post-harvest and food losses are a major scourge that hampers food and nutritional security in many countries. According to the FAO, post-harvest losses in Africa reach 37% of agricultural production,” suggested Abdoulaye Ouédraogo.

He said that in addition to efforts to increase agricultural yields and production, initiatives must be put in place to reduce these losses. According to him, more than 800 million people suffer from hunger in the world.

The program manager at AGRA indicates that climate change as well as the multiplication of hazards have the characteristic of aggravating the low availability of food and negatively impact agricultural yields, complicating the transport, storage and conservation of foodstuffs. This is why, he believes, in its approach to supporting African states towards an inclusive transformation of food systems, AGRA submitted to the Green Climate Fund a concept note for the RE-GAIN program.

Representing the Designated National Authority of the Green Climate Fund, Basile Ouédraogo suggests that Burkina Faso, like some of its African neighbors, faces significant climate challenges that threaten not only food security but also the well-being of people in rural communities. He asserts that post-harvest food losses represent a major obstacle to the sustainability and prosperity of agriculture in Africa in general and in Burkina Faso in particular.

AGRA submitted to the Green Climate Fund a concept note for the RE-GAIN program

“According to the FAO, around a third of agricultural production is lost between the field and the plate, or around 200 billion dollars each year, hence the suffering of millions of people on the continent from hunger and malnutrition,” he declared.

He therefore welcomes that the RE-GAIN program is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at combating food losses in Africa, strengthening the climate resilience of smallholder farmers and helping them adopt sustainable solutions to reduce post-harvest losses. Basile Ouédraogo said he is convinced that the discussions at the AGRA workshop, which is the second of its kind after the one held in Ouagadougou, will help lay the foundations of a solid and effective RE-GAIN program in Burkina Faso.

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(Featured image by Megan Thomas via Unsplash)

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First published in lefaso.net. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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