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Developing, disseminating, and using water-e nergy-food (WE4F) nexus innovations, is fundamental for increased and sustainable food production; whether it’s through the of improvement smallholder farmers’ productivity or that of agri-food enterprises operating in the value chain as producers, processors, storage , or distributors. Though many innovations are already available, their scaling often fails due to lack of basic, but crucial conditions, such as funding, a weak enabling environment and structural challenges. Therefore, Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) aims to scale and disseminate climate-friendly, energy- and water-efficient innovations for more productive and sustainable food production while supporting the private sector and strengthening not only the capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises , but also farmers and other stakeholders. One way to achieve these objectives is by demonstrating the innovations and disseminating information of the benefits through a hands-on approach that focuses on WE4F’s targeted end-users.
At the WE4F West Africa Regional Innovation Hub (WA RIH), which was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ, there were a number of demonstrative projects that showcased technologies and practices adapted to the regional context. They served as a demonstration pilot for wider ownership and scale-up. As part of these activities, organized a competition with ProPlanteur and ProCIV, two other GIZ projects, in Côte d’Ivoire) to support agricultural cooperatives with their adoption of innovative and environmentally friendly technologies.
The call for applications was open to cooperatives across the nation that were part of the three programs’ portfolios, with the criteria for applicants covering essential categories: legal existence, group dynamics, production activity dynamics, availability of a permanently accessible site, absence of land issues, availability and permanent accessibility of a water source, and the potential intended use of the cooperative’s facility.
After reviewing applications, conducting site visits, and further narrowing down the pool, one cooperative, ECAM COOP CA, was selected.
Get to know more about the winner and its prize:
ECAM COOP CA is an agricultural cooperative, whose Board of Directors is located in Meagui in Western Côte d’Ivoire. They were granted a complete solar powered irrigation system which was installed and tested with them. The cooperative also received a training on the use and maintenance of the system.
According to ECAM COOP CA, this site will be used to improve training and production, as well as popularize the technology because it is a demonstration plot for market gardening for local women in Meagui. The hand-over of the installed site took place at the end of August 2024, with about 20 participants from the ECAM cooperative, WE4F, ProPlanteur, ProCIV and some farmers.
Contact
For more information about the main activities of the program, please have a look at the West Africa Hub Subpage or contact stephane.lako@giz.de (West Africa Regional Coordinator) or rose.toure@giz.de (Food Safety Advisor) .
