©AfreePress-(Lomé, 12 of febuary 2019)- To deal with possible cases of food crises in the future, ECOWAS has designed a Regional Food Security Reserve. In case of an emergency the crisis would be able to be solved regionally.

The project is funded by the European Union and is intended to support the network of public structures, state-owned companies, agencies, offices, police stations, etc. in charge of the management of national stocks in each member country. This is the network called "RESOGEST". RESOGEST has, since 2017, been trying to bring ECOWAS members and the Permanent intern-state committee for drought control in the Sahel together.

Last Friday the main officials of the network had a meeting in Lomé . They discussed three defense methods, the first one would concern local stocks, the second the national stocks and lastly the regional food reserves in case of a food crisis. In the event of a food crisis in one of the ECOWAS countries the regional food reserves could play in important role in solving the issue. The Togolese Minister of Agriculture, Koutéra Bataka, who was present at the meeting, emphasized Togo’s commitment to the regional food security program. "Our country has grain surpluses every year. I have no doubt that in the future we will be able to contribute to the supply of the regional food security reserve, " is what he said. This statement was received very well by RESOGEST, the president of RESOGEST even encouraged other countries to follow Togo’s example: "If all countries were like Togo, it would be a big step forward for the sub-region, " he suggested.

Togo has been a regular contributor to the United Nationals Development Program, agricultural surpluses are sold when they are needed in the region.

Translated by Dzifa Gomashie