U-3ARC at the 16th Meeting of the Multidisciplinary Team of FAO Subregional Office for West Africa
Subregional Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for West Africa is organizing its 16th Annual Meeting of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT16), from 19 to 22 November 2024, in Praia, Cape Verde. This was an opportunity for U-3ARC to make its voice heard, in favor of the implementation of a sustainable cold chain in the subregion.
The 16th Annual Meeting of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT16), which is being held from 19 to 22 November 2024, in Praia, Cape Verde, counted the participation of U-3ARC. Organized in a hybrid format, the meeting revolved around the theme "Connecting sectors: strengthening the resilience of food and nutrition security, through social protection in West Africa".
During the panel, reserved for the private sector, Mr. Madi Sakandé, President of U-3ARC, advocated for the establishment of a sustainable cold chain in the sub-region, in particular, and in Africa, in general. He then recalled that U-3ARC does a lot of awareness-raising on the continent and around the world on the need to develop the cold chain, in particular to reduce post-harvest losses to improve market access, to increase nutritional food security and contribute to economic growth.
Both promote employment and ensure food security
In his opinion, by sustainably developing the cold chain, many decent job opportunities will be offered and, by extension, decent incomes to actors in the agri-food value chains. The consequence will be a direct contribution to the expectation of social security and food and nutritional security.
Very concretely, the President of U-3ARC proposes a series of concrete actions. In front of the audience, he suggested that together a regional program to support the development of a sustainable cold chain in agri-food systems in West Africa. Better, before the next MDT17 on the development of this Program, he recommends that there be a regional workshop, involving all key stakeholders, namely FAO, U-3ARC, all member countries, sub-regional organizations, partners and potential structures linked to R&D.
All key stakeholders would meet at this workshop to design this program to support the development of a sustainable cold chain in West Africa. Among the assets, the sub-region would gain in reducing post-harvest losses, improving market access, especially for small producers and food safety, but also in socio-economic opportunities.
A regional roadmap to increase storage and processing capacity
In the same vein, Mr. Madi Sakandé proposed that such a program would be based on a number of pillars. Among these, the support of policies for the development of a sustainable cold chain at the level of each country with a master plan for development in priority sectors, but also continuous awareness-raising among all key stakeholders, namely producers, consumers, industries, politicians, sectoral associations, etc. Another major pillar will focus on capacity building (Refrigeration technicians, producers, consumers, etc.). And a final major pillar would focus on access to financing, with a clear financing strategy, to invest in infrastructure and capacity building.