The State of Cote d’Ivoire signed Monday a strategic partnership with the Moroccan group OCP SA to boost competitiveness and sustainable development of agricultural value chains.
The Ivorian Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Adjoumani Kouassi, and his colleague in charge of Trade and Industry, Souleymane Diarrassouba, have, on behalf of the government, initialed the protocol with Mr. Mohamed Anouar Tamali, the CEO of OCP Africa, during a ceremony at the Ivorian Prime Minister’s Office, in the presence of the Prime Minister Patrick Achi.
The signing of partnership agreement between the State of Cote d’Ivoire and OCP SA, is part of the implementation of the National Agricultural Investment Program (PNIA 2), a variation of the Strategic Program Cote d’Ivoire 2030, said Adjoumani.
This agreement, he said, aims at the structural transformation of Ivorian agriculture, as provided for by the Cote d’Ivoire 2030 Strategic Program and the Cote d’Ivoire Solidarity Society Project, in order to increase agricultural productivity.
It should enable agricultural incomes to rise from 60 percent to 80 percent by 2030. This structural transformation will also lead to an increase in value added and contribute to the creation of a significant number of jobs for youth and women.
This strategic partnership aims to “boost the competitiveness of the Ivorian agricultural sector and strengthen the impact of local development policies on our rural populations in particular,” he added.
It also aims to improve the governance of agricultural, pastoral and fisheries value chains, the development of research, development and training as well as inserting them into global value chains with higher added value, improving the living conditions of farmers and market development.
This partnership is the result of a participative work including the main ministerial departments and the structures of the OCP Group. Planned for an initial period of two years, this partnership will be implemented through specific agreements to be concluded between the signatory parties.
It is already planned that three specific agreements will be rapidly implemented. These are the rice project in the north of Cote d’Ivoire, the creation of 30 new generation agricultural service centres and digital soil fertility mapping.
The Ivorian Ministry of Industry is also involved in this memorandum of understanding, which according to Mohamed Anouar concerns “the contribution of the OCP Group to accompany the trails and projects of the Ivorian government.”
These projects focus on improving competitiveness and sustainable development of agricultural value chains, he added. They should allow a transformation of the Ivorian agricultural sector.
This partnership will strongly contribute to the realization of the actions and interventions envisaged by the National Agricultural Investment Program of the second generation (PNIA 2), and will especially facilitate the combination of interventions in a coherent inclusive approach.
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