The Board of Directors of the World Bank on December 10 approved a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of $60 million to help African countries build the resilience of local agriculture in the face of related threats. to climate change.

According to a press release, this operation is part of the commitment made by the World Bank at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in 2019 to increase its support for Cgiar, a global partnership of international organizations working in climate change research. food security with the aim of enabling rural households living from agriculture to benefit from progress in agricultural research and to increase food security.

With this new project, entitled "Accelerating the impact of Cgiar's climate research in Africa" (or Aiccra

according to its acronym in English), the World Bank intends to support research and capacity building activities carried out by Cgiar centers and partner organizations with the aim of increasing access to climate information services and agricultural technologies. smart technologies proven in Africa.

According to the World Bank , with better access to meteorological services combined with information on effective measures to adopt, farmers and pastoralists will be able to better anticipate climatic events and take preventive measures to preserve their productive activities and avoid losses. dramatic.

Mobilizing science and innovation for the benefit of agricultural development is in line with commitments made during the High Level Dialogue on Food Security in Africa, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in 2019 with the aim of tackling the problem of hunger and climate vulnerability on the African continent.

This new project responds to Afsld's call for joint action against food insecurity, a consequence of climate change, at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has further weakened the daily lives of millions of households. The interventions of the Aiccra project will focus on six countries -- Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia -- but its benefits will concern the whole region: "Ida's regional support is justified insofar as where the benefits of activities aimed at generating knowledge and transferring technologies do not stop at borders and therefore cannot be supported by governments alone", underlines Deborah Wetzel, Director of Regional Integration for Africa sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank .