The West African region has been highly affected by the ongoing Ukraine crisis, with food security particularly threatened.

In a report published on Tuesday by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), dubbed "Assessment of the Risks and Impact of the Russian-Ukrainian Agricultural Production in the ECOWAS Region", the bloc acknowledged that the region had suffered as a result of the conflict, with key agricultural imports unable to reach member countries.

The assessment that covered the 15 ECOWAS countries showed the dependence of ECOWAS countries on troubled countries makes them even more vulnerable to external fluctuations and threatens the socio-political environment.

According to the report, rice and wheat are the main cereals imported, representing respectively 50 percent and 44 percent share of imported cereals in the ECOWAS sub-region. All cereals combined, at the ECOWAS level, cereal imports from Russia and Ukraine were around 12 percent in 2020.

The report projects that the region will face a fertilizer deficit of between 1.2 and 1.5 million tons, or between 10 and 20 million tons of grain equivalent if the conflict in Ukraine persists.

This means the region could experience a loss of cereal production of around 20 million, or more than a quarter of the production recorded in 2021 (73 million tons).

The report pointed out that in the very short term, the countries that are about to be the most affected by the shortage of fertilizer include Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Mali. As for the other countries, they will face a shortage of fertilizer during the next agricultural campaign if nothing is done or if the crisis persists.

The report further notes that the shortage of fertilizer could lead to a production decrease of 10 to 20 million tons, equivalent to almost 20 percent of 2021-2022 cereal production. These deficits are linked to several pre-existing factors but will be aggravated by the shortage of fertilizers induced by the conflict in Ukraine.

The report proposed various short-term, medium-term and long-term recommendations to help the bloc weather the food production challenges.

These include; supporting local food production, facilitating smallholders' access to fertilizers produced and stocked locally; promoting the increase of existing production capacities of private sector companies that are producing fertilizers in the region; initiating changes in dietary habits to reduce imports of foods that are produced away from the region; promoting good agricultural practices to improve nutrient use, in particular the adoption of improved seeds by farmers; and diversifying the food basket with perennial crops.