GCA Catalyzes Climate Adaptation for Agricultural Transformation in West Africa
D
akar, Senegal, 20 May 2025 — The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) has launched a major regional initiative to integrate climate adaptation into the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) multi-country flagship investment program, the Promotion of Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAVC-SAPZ). The initiative covers Guinea, Senegal, and Togo—three countries highly vulnerable to climate risks and in urgent need of agricultural transformation that is both sustainable and resilient.
At an inception workshop held in Dakar last week, GCA convened government officials from the Program Management Units (PMUs) of the three countries, and technical partners from CGIAR’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) and Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). This marked the beginning of GCA’s support to the program through the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), the continent’s largest adaptation initiative co-led with the African Development Bank.
“The future of food systems in West Africa depends on our ability to act on adaptation now,” said Dr. Oluyede Ajayi, Global Lead for Food Security and Rural Wellbeing for GCA. “The SAVC-SAPZ Program is a bold investment in regional value chains. By embedding climate resilience from the outset, we ensure it also becomes a model for long-term food security, inclusive rural growth, and private-sector engagement in a warming world.”
Building Climate-Smart Value Chains
The AfDB’s SAVC-SAPZ Program seeks to promote sustainable agricultural value chains by investing in infrastructure, processing zones, and enabling ecosystems. However, climate change threatens the viability of these investments unless adaptation is mainstreamed. GCA’s support ensures that the program can systematically assess and respond to climate risks—particularly in rain-fed agriculture, post-harvest losses, and water stress.
During the Dakar workshop, CGIAR presented a suite of tested and scalable adaptation technologies suited to local agro-ecological conditions. These include:
- Climate-resilient seed varieties, such as the Sammaz range of drought-tolerant maize developed by IITA,
- Bio-fortified crops to address nutritional insecurity and climate-induced crop failures,
- Portable, solar-powered irrigation systems to offset unreliable rainfall, developed by IWMI,
- Biopesticides for sustainable pest and disease management, and
- Climate information services to improve agricultural planning and early warning.
The participating PMUs expressed strong interest in these solutions, marking the first formal linkage between national implementing agencies and CGIAR’s adaptation R&D platforms.
“We are not starting from scratch,” said Kimwaga Mhando, GCA’s Senior Program Officer. “What we are doing is accelerating the uptake of proven innovations—linking research to implementation, and countries to technologies that work. It’s about delivering adaptation at scale, with urgency and precision.”
A Framework for Country-Led Collaboration
The workshop also established a formal coordination mechanism for continuous collaboration between GCA, TAAT, AICCRA, and the PMUs. Quarterly virtual meetings will provide a space for technical deep-dives, tracking progress, resolving challenges, and adjusting adaptation strategies in real time. Each country will receive tailored support aligned with its national adaptation plans, investment pipelines, and institutional capacity.
GCA will lead the climate risk assessments in collaboration with CGIAR to identify the most relevant interventions per country. These will inform the development of “adaptation packages” integrated into the implementation phase of the SAVC-SAPZ Program and support broader policy alignment with national adaptation frameworks and the African Union’s Malabo Declaration on Agricultural Transformation.
Scaling Adaptation Through Investment Partnerships
The SAVC-SAPZ Program represents a new generation of investment in African agriculture—combining public infrastructure, private-sector engagement, and regional trade opportunities. By embedding adaptation, the program also becomes a proof point for how blended finance and innovation partnerships can deliver resilience dividends.
The program is backed by AfDB concessional financing and co-financed by other development partners. GCA’s role is to ensure that these investments are future-proof, inclusive, and aligned with the global climate agenda.
“This collaboration reflects the core principle of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program: to integrate climate risk into the architecture of African development,” said Professor Patrick V. Verkooijen, President and CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation. “Adaptation is no longer optional. It is the investment case, and the time to scale it is now.”
