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In Africa, as in most of the developing world, economic growth and poverty reduction remain closely tied to the fate of agriculture. In recent years, the fate of African agriculture has come under enormous scrutiny. Several regional and subregional initiatives are underway.

One such set of initiatives focuses on the agricultural sectors of countries in West and Central Africa. ECOWAS, the region's economic organization, has formulated a common agricultural policy (ECOWAP) that is also the vehicle for implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) process—an effort by African governments to coordinate agricultural development strategies. At the same time, the region's agricultural research organization, CORAF, is developing a strategic framework for agricultural research in West and Central Africa.

IFPRI, which has sought to intensify its activities in the region through its new Africa Strategy, is helping to support regional efforts to revitalize agriculture. Therefore, IFPRI, ECOWAS, and CORAF organized a conference in Dakar, Senegal, in January in order to agree on approaches, priorities, and future opportunities for collaboration. More than 50 regional policymakers and government representatives, donor representatives, and senior IFPRI staff examined lessons learned from IFPRI's work in Africa, strategic directions for future food policy research in West and Central Africa, and ways for the Institute to deepen its research, capacity strengthening, and communications partnerships in the region.

"We wanted to identify opportunities and options to better align our agenda with emerging priorities in the region," said Ousmane Badiane, IFPRI's Africa Coordinator. He said IFPRI has significantly increased its activities in West and Central Africa in the last year and will continue to deepen its partnerships with ECOWAS and CORAF and expand its collaboration with the West and Central African agricultural research community to support regional food and nutrition security objectives.

The conference made several recommendations with regard to future research and policy endeavors. One was to broaden partnerships beyond traditional research circles to include actors such as the media and professional organizations. Another was to develop a collaborative capacity-building program to help strengthen policy analysis and research skills across West and Central Africa. A third was to more sharply focus policy research in the region toward a better understanding of past successes and the factors behind them in order to disseminate them widely.