A new study released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development says West Africa has potential to strengthen its agricultural sector.

It said boosting productivity, fostering competitiveness and ensuring that small-scale farmers have greater access to markets are key to West Africa realizing its full agricultural potential.

The publication, “Rebuilding West Africa’s Food Potential: Policies and market incentives for smallholder-inclusive food value chains”, presents a range of successful case studies since the region stepped up investments in agricultural development in the wake of the world food crisis in 2007-2008.

The study which was made available to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday by Fiona Winward, of the FAO Media Relations in Rome argues that countries could benefit significantly from policy support that targets broader agricultural development and greater coordination among producers, private industry and the public and financial sectors.

“Although some West African countries in the region are doing better than others, the region has lagged behind other parts of Africa in terms of basic infrastructure, investments, research and development and agricultural processing,” said FAO Senior Economist Aziz Elbehri, who edited the publication.

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