The main objective of the network is to contribute
to the sustainable agricultural development of the member countries by
judicious conservation and sustainable use of the diversity of their
plant genetic resources through a well coordinated network of functional
national programmes, for which research priorities, actions plans and
national strategies are well articulated. The network is governed by a
General Assembly of all member countries and partners from regional and
international organizations, a steering committee of 11 elected members
and a secretariat based at IPGRI SSA, Cotonou Office. With financial
support of the African Development Bank, the network has initiated in
collaboration with national programmes of the sub-region, a broad range
of activities.
Few formal national programmes exist in Western and Central Africa. Major
constraints to developing activities on plant genetic resources in the
subregions are lack of commitment from governments to support
conservation and use of plant genetic resources. Few trained scientists
are working full time on managing genetic resources. Most institutions
lack basic infrastructure and essential communication facilities.
To avoid duplication and make judicious use of the scarce resources
available, National Agricultural Research Systems of the sub region
decided to create a regional genetic resources network. At the regional
workshop on implementation of the Global Plan of Action jointly
organised by FAO, IPGRI and
CORAF in Cotonou, Benin in February 1998,
the Genetic Resources Network for Western and Central Africa (GRENEWECA
in English and ROCAREG in French) was created under CORAF/WECARD
auspices.
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