Since 1984 IFAD has invested US$76.7 million in eight programmes and projects in Côte d’Ivoire, in operations of a total value of US$251.4 million. The Small Horticultural Producer Support Project, which is ongoing, became effective in 2001. Because of civil unrest, the project was frozen for a number of years and has now been reactivated. It is the first thematic project supported by IFAD on small irrigation related primarily to vegetable production and marketing in West Africa.

The Rural Development Project in the Zanzan, or North East, Region included support for irrigation and micro-irrigation infrastructure, road infrastructure and a network of credit and savings cooperatives targeting mainly women. It closed in 2008.

The first IFAD-funded project in the country was the Artisanal Fisheries Development Project in the Aby Lagoon, which became effective in 1984. Its objective was to help fishing communities manage the overexploited fish resources of the lagoon. It encouraged the communities’ participation in activities that led to improved navigation conditions, better marketing and improved access to public health facilities.

The Dabakala/Katiola Rural Development Project, which became effective 1987, was cofinanced with the African Development Bank and implemented by the cotton parastatal, the Ivorian Company for Textile Development. It focused on agricultural development and infrastructure development. The Rural Development Project in the North East, effective in 1992, worked to increase the productivity and incomes of the poorest smallholders in that region through a combination of support for cash and food crop development and support for livestock production.

The National Agricultural Services Restructuring Project, which became effective in 1994, was initiated by and cofinanced with the World Bank. It focused on the promotion of informal and formal groups of farmers in the savannah zone.

The Marketing and Local Initiatives Support Project became effective in 1997. It worked to achieve a sustainable increase in cash income for farmers in the Centre-North region, with the aim of improving the living standards of women and poor households.

A new operation, the Agricultural Rehabilitation and Poverty Reduction Project, is currently under design, for submission to the December 2009 Executive Board. It is a post-crisis project that aims at supporting the rehabilitation and recapitalization of the potential production capabilities of the population, weakened by the civil conflict. IFAD will finance agricultural rehabilitation by providing inputs, tools and seeds to poor small-scale farmers. The West African Development Bank and possibly the African Development Bank will finance activities to rebuild rural infrastructure, improving the access of smallholders to technologies and markets and improving household food security. The target group comprises the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of the population, in particular women, young people and people affected by the war. The project area will be in Bandama and in M’bahiakro, Zanzan and Savanes, with a pilot operation located in the West region.

IFAD’s strategy

In collaboration with the government, IFAD started to prepare a country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP) for Côte d’Ivoire in April 2008. The government’s approval of the PRSP early in 2009 was IFAD’s cue to proceed with finalization of the COSOP, which is to be submitted to the September 2009 Executive Board.

IFAD’s goal is to alleviate poverty by promoting household food security on a daily basis. The organization works to:

• stabilize the access of households to food across seasons and despite shortages
• support activities to sustain access to food in the long term
• address issues of well-being within rural households, including health, sanitation and nutrition

IFAD-funded programmes and projects in the country support farmers’ organizations in order to improve marketing of agricultural products, with a focus on rural finance, technology development and transfer, and rural infrastructure.

IFAD works in close partnership with the government and has developed long-standing alliances in the country with the World Bank and the West African Development Bank.
 

Source: IFAD