MIVORY COAST- Ivorian Prime Minister Robert Beugré revealed the country harvested 22 million tons of food crops in 2023, a 1.7-million-ton increase (10%) from the previous year primarily due to government support and investment in the past year.
The Prime Minister suggested the improvement can be attributed to investments made through the National Agricultural Investment Program (PNIA) since 2018, which have accumulated a cost of CFA 4.2 trillion (US$7 billion) spread over 8 years.
PNIA was established to accelerate growth of the agricultural sector through investment in an array of projects across the agriculture value chain through an effective regulatory framework, proactive investment incentives and the establishment of agro-processing and manufacturing facilities.
The program was established primarily because most of Ivory Coast’s major agriculture products are exported unprocessed- palm oil, cocoa, and cashew nuts.
These processing and manufacturing facilities are meant to increase the production of derived products like margarines, soaps and other value-added products, which should increase the country’s competitiveness in the agriculture sector.
The program supports agriculture in three main agriculture sectors- grains, horticulture products, and tubers. According to the Prime Minister, yam and cassava recorded the highest harvests of 8 million and 7 million tons, respectively.
Plantains, paddy rice, and maize were all recorded as harvesting 1 million tons. Beugré expressed hope for more sustained growth in food production in 2024 thanks to the program.
The Prime Minister stated, “In addition to the Emergency Food Production Program (2PAU-CI) focused on rice, corn, and cassava launched last February, we are initiating several other projects on food production with total water control.”
In early June, the government commissioned a US$16 million (CFA 10 billion) cashew nut processing unit in Odiénné in the Kabadougou region as part of the project’s target of processing 50% of all locally produced cashew nuts.
The program is also intended to increase local production of wheat, dairy products, and corn meal, all of which Ivory Coast is a net importer. A key objective of the program is to increase milled rice production to 2 million tons by 2025.
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