The World Bank Group approved on March 26, 2026 a fourth phase of the West Africa Food System Resilience Program, a $46 million grant to the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) to scale agricultural innovation, raise productivity and support jobs in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Zambia. The project, Accelerating Innovation and Catalyzing Capacity for Resilience in Africa (AICCRA–FSRP4), is financed by the International Development Association, the Policy and Human Resources Development Fund's Global South Pillar and the Food Systems 2030 Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

The programme is expected to reach more than 1.5 million farmers and other food-system actors. It builds on earlier phases of the FSRP and on the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research in Africa (AICCRA) programme, and its job is to close the gap between research institutions and farmers by widening access to climate-smart agriculture and climate information services. Working with CGIAR research centres, it will deliver proven innovations including drought-tolerant rice and maize varieties, digital climate advisory platforms and solar-powered irrigation, and more than 250,000 farmers are expected to adopt climate-smart technologies as a result. Earlier AICCRA phases promoted 165 innovations and took climate-smart services to over 11.6 million people.

With agriculture accounting for 52 percent of Africa's workforce, the new phase adds an explicit focus on skills and enterprise. It will support 150 entrepreneurial ventures, strengthen or set up 25 incubators and accelerators and enable $16.5 million in private capital for agribusiness and agtech, using challenge funds, matching grants and partnerships with the private sector and with universities such as University Mohamed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Morocco.

"Job creation is a core pillar of this new initiative, designed to benefit a wide ecosystem of actors and to deepen our commitment of helping African countries build stronger, climate-smart food systems," said Chakib Jenane, World Bank Regional Director for Planet, linking it to the Bank Group's Mission AgriConnect. By scaling proven innovations and strengthening institutions, he said, millions of farmers, particularly women and young people, can become more productive, more competitive and better prepared for climate shocks.

The regional architecture is part of the design. At least eight national and regional institutions will be strengthened to deliver innovation at scale, and agricultural data systems and national soil hubs will be improved so that decisions are more accurate and climate-informed. "Climate risks, pests, data systems, and markets do not stop at borders," said Marina Wes, World Bank Acting Director for Regional Programs.

The results of the earlier phases are the case for the new one. The broader programme has reached 2.9 million beneficiaries, helped nearly 1 million producers adopt climate-smart technologies, extended agrometeorological services to 962,000 actors and contributed to a 30 percent reduction in food insecurity in the areas it targeted. The fourth phase is meant to widen those gains with the newest innovations available, a new emphasis on private-sector solutions and skills, and consolidated digital strategies at regional level.

For a maize or rice grower in one of the six countries, the practical promise is a drought-tolerant seed, a weather advisory on the phone and a solar pump, delivered through national institutions rather than a one-off pilot.

Source: World Bank