XLVIII Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential
food commodities; (ii) consideration of the whole value chain approach to development, covering
production and post-production stages; and (iii) an awareness that achieving both competitiveness and
inclusiveness requires the active involvement of public agencies, private entrepreneurs and producers
represented by strong organizations.In this context, staple food commodity models differ significantly from export-focused cash crop models.
Staple food crop production presents a number of distinguishing features, including the involvement
of a large number of small, highly heterogeneous farmers; women often play an important direct role
in the production, trading and small-scale agroprocessing. Farmers producing staple foods also tend
to face greater difficulty accessing inputs, are exposed to greater risks (in production, marketing and
prices) and have limited market access for their products. On the demand side, staple food commodities
can have multiple market outlets, including local, national or regional markets. Moreover, production
of staple crops – especially the cereals, roots and tubers that predominate in West Africa – requires a
significant upgrading of the agroprocessing capacity, including better coordination strategies between
farmers and agroprocessors.Downstream on the value chain, development of inclusive staple food value chains requires tackling problems
related to the general business environment, weak or inefficient contract enforcement, infrastructure deficits
and dissemination of agricultural research. In addition, building long-term competitiveness in staple foods
is specifically problematic in West Africa, as soil fertility is a serious and worsening problem, while returns
to labour are relatively low. Yet given the low productivity and competitiveness of staple foods in general,
there is still a huge scope for improvement and for further reductions in unit costs. Clearly a case for active
public and private engagement is evident, but the key question is how and under what institutional set-up
should this engagement be established, given the specificities of staple food systems.The chapters of this book represent an empirical and normative contribution to the development framework
for value chain models appropriate for West Africa and its dominant commodities. The book is regional
in scope and covers the 15 West African countries plus Cameroon and Chad (part of the central Africa,
CEMAC region). The value chain case studies covered in the book are broad-based and fairly representative
of the major crop systems in the region, including traditional export crops (cotton, cocoa, groundnut), high-
value export commodities (horticulture, mango, banana, pineapple), staple food crops (palm oil, rice, maize,
sorghum, millet, cassava) and milk. The country case studies include: Burkina Faso (maize, cotton, mango);
Cameroon (cocoa, cassava); Cote d’Ivoire (cotton, cocoa, banana); Ghana (cassava, mango, oil palm,
pineapple); Mali (cotton, rice, sorghum, millet); and Senegal (rice, groundnut, horticulture, milk).Book contentThe book is divided into two parts. Part I provides analyses of market, policy and institutional drivers,
and issues relating to food commodity chains, with a particular focus on staple foods within West
Africa. Part II contains a large number of case studies treating specific value chains and countries or
groups of countries.Part I begins with an introductory Chapter 1, by Elbehri, Kaminski, Koroma, Iafrate and Benali, that
describes trends and indicators of food demand and supply in West Africa. On the demand side,
the chapter describes trends in population and urbanization and the food consumption patterns
most prevalent in the region. On the supply side, agro-ecological systems, as well as the major crops
and livestock products, are described in terms of importance, distribution and productivity levels.
Development indicators, such as infrastructure, regulation, research and development (R&D), foreign