Solidaridad West Africa focuses on stimulating sustainable supply chains through innovations in production, marketing and trade relations, landscape management and policy enabling. In these efforts, Solidaridad simultaneously addresses food security, nutrition and community development.
West Africa

Region West Africa
Solidaridad West Africa operates in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The region has large tracks of arable land for food production. Unfortunately, all crop productivity is less than a quarter of optimum global averages. The region is among the hardest hit by climate change impact.
Developments
Agriculture remains the main driver of economic development in the region. It accounts for a third of region’s Gross Domestic Product and employs on average 60% of the population. The model of agricultural growth in the region has been driven mainly by area expansion as opposed to crop intensification and use of technology.
Rapid urbanisation and population growth has resulted in increased food demand which the current model cannot support. The region, however, has sufficient human and natural resource potential to address these challenges.
The African Union, in response to the challenges, adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as the policy driver of agriculture in the sub-region. CAADP aims to sustain the annual agricultural sector GDP growth rate of 6% among all signatory member states.
Additionally, the ECOWAS Agriculture Policy seeks to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector.
Challenges
Regional growth over the years has been hampered by a number of factors impacting negatively on productivity and livelihoods. Non-commercialized farming systems, land tenure, poor storage, poor transportation network and general degradation of natural resources are factors affecting agriculture.
Lack of infrastructure is a key challenge facing West Africa’s growth. Poor state of roads, low energy and water supply, lack of storage facilities and information and communications technology all affect competitiveness and investments in the region. Producer uptake of technology is also slowly affecting productivity levels. Small-scale mines located within the region, for example, continue to use rudimentary methods to produce gold, impacting negatively on the environment. The use of technology in agriculture is equally low and negligible.
The economy of the sub-region is largely driven by exports of raw materials and the importation of finished products. As an exporter of cheap raw materials, the economies of the region are more vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices. The relative stability enjoyed by the region over the past decade is threatened by the recent rise in violence and extremism in Nigeria and Mali. The result is poor investments and increased uncertainty.
Achievements
Solidaridad's key achievements span across producer support programmes, voluntary certification, policy advocacy, food security, landscape management and smart sustainable land use. Some specific key achievements are described below.
Solidaridad implemented the Sustainable West Africa Oil Palm Programme (Phase 1) from 2012 to 2016.
It successfully piloted the setup and operations of 20 Rural Service Centers in cocoa growing communities through the Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP). An innovative service delivery model for cocoa farmers to access a bouquet of production services for intensification and rehabilitation. A validated innovation is ready for scaling up.
Over 200 communities have developed Community Action Plans (CAP) under a partnership with Mondelez to create thriving cocoa communities, as well as improving farmer incomes through crop diversification; creating employment opportunities for young people in the cocoa sector, women empowerment and environmental sustainability.
Join us Supporting effective partnerships
Within the context of public-private partnerships, we work with supply chain owners to attract investments such as impact funding. Interventions are integrated into defined landscapes so we can effectively partner with other leaders to promote proper landscape management. Contact us to learn more.
Partner-
Contact Information
Isaac Gyamfi
Managing Director, Solidaridad West Africa
Nico Roozen Heights Block 14, Nii Sai Road, East Legon, PMB KD 11, Accra, Ghana