FREETOWN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- West African leaders and development partners on Thursday pledged to reposition agriculture as a catalyst for food security and job creation at a high-level consultation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.
The conference, themed "Advancing Regional Economic Integration Through Agricultural Transformation, Regional Trade and Private Sector Development," brought together policymakers, private sector actors and agricultural experts from across the sub-region.
Addressing participants, ECOWAS Resident Representative in Sierra Leone John Azumah described the meeting as timely as the bloc marks 50 years of regional cooperation.
He stressed that agriculture must be central to the bloc's long-standing ambition of establishing a fully functional common market, adding that the conference would help align national development plans with ECOWAS' broader integration agenda.
Sierra Leone's Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Henry Musa Kpaka, underscored the urgency of achieving food self-sufficiency, noting that West Africa spends about 3.5 billion U.S. dollars annually on rice imports despite favorable ecological conditions for production.
"There is no reason why we should be spending such an amount on rice importation when we have the right conditions to produce enough ourselves," he said, calling for youth-focused policies, digitalization and stronger private sector participation.
The conference is expected to produce actionable recommendations to transform agriculture into a modern, competitive and inclusive sector, reinforcing ECOWAS' vision of a common market driven by sustainable growth and shared prosperity.
