COTE D’IVOIRE – The Ivorian government is planning to invest up to US$1.6 billion over the next 5 years to strengthen the livestock and aquaculture sectors.

The funds will be used to finance its National Policy for the Development of Livestock, Fisheries, and Aquaculture (PONADEPA 2022-2026) which seeks to reduce the nation’s reliance on imports to supply its citizens with animal proteins.

PONADEPA is a multisectoral document, with national scope, which intends to create a coherent and harmonized programming framework for public and private investments in the animal and fishery resources sector, over the period 2022-2026.

The money will finance the implementation of five national development strategies in the field of livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture.

These strategies intend to promote and coordinate initiatives in the animal and fisheries resource sectors, develop animal production and lead to the sustainable management of the fisheries sector.

They also aim to promote the development of aquaculture as well as the improvement of veterinary public health across the sectors.

Cutting reliance on imports

Another of PONADEPA 2022-2026 goals is to reduce the country’s dependence on imports and lead to the gradual achievement of animal and fish protein self-sufficiency in the country, as domestic fish production only covers about 14% of the country’s needs.

It specifically aims to boost local production so that it can instead cater for about 70% and 65% of its animal and fish protein needs respectively by 2026.

Cote d’Ivoire has a coastline of 550 km, a continental shelf of 11,000 km2, three lagoons (Ebrié, Aby and Tadjo) covering 1,500 km2, four large artificial lakes (Ayamé, Kossou, Buyo and Taabo), and 1,700 km2 of rivers and streams.

However, despite the abundance of water resources and its advantageous location on the Atlantic Ocean, the country’s annual production of fish, as of 2021, was estimated to be about 63,000 tonnes, with inland fisheries producing about 30,000 tonnes as cited by the FCWC.

With the consumption rate lying at 275,000 tonnes which reflects 16.2 kg/per capita/year, the Ivory Coast imports 250,000 tonnes of seafood per year.

According to the Minister of Animal Resources Sidi Tiémoko Touré, PONADEPA 2022-2026, therefore, intends to implement projects that will reduce seafood importation as well as undertake several additional projects to promote various sectors concerned.

Project to create 700,000 direct jobs

In its implementation, PONADEPA is anticipated to lead to the creation of more than 700,000 direct jobs and 1.5 million indirect jobs for the residents of Corte d’Ivoire.

The coordination of PONADEPA intends to set up several State bodies who will ensure that the strategic and operational management of PONADEPA meets the evolving needs of the sector.

These bodies are the Council of Ministers; a Steering Committee; a technical committee; two consultation frameworks (Professional organizations in the sector, Private sector and Technical and Financial Partners), and Local Supervisory Committees.

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