In Côte d’Ivoire, the project is focusing on the cassava value chain. The Government’s national plan for agricultural development specifically identifies cassava as a priority crop for development.

The project is focusing on the products attiéké and placali. Attiéké, a cassava product resembling couscous, is popular in the country with demand growing regionally.

A project inception workshop was carried out in Abidjan that brought together key stakeholders in the cassava value chain and set the course the project’s major activities in the country.

Participants proposed to replicate the “plateforme” model, a multi-stakeholder contract farming arrangement of which several are already established in the country. Therefore, many project activities will be implemented through local platforms of cassava value chain actors.

The project is supporting policymakers and institutions important to the sector.

• Working to align national and regional strategies with the development of improved regional market integration.
• Mapping policies and institutional arrangements affecting the local and regional trade of cassava.

The project is focusing on developing inclusive business models throughout the cassava value chain.

• Analysing existing cassava and rice platforms and identifying best practices.
• Bringing together stakeholders and supporting the development of cassava platforms.
• Capacity building for producer organizations and SMEs in value addition and business management.

Sustainable market-led production intensification is a major area of the project.

• Complementing the diagnostic study on seed systems with a database on cassava varieties in Cote d’Ivoire.  
• Within each established cassava platform, implementing a Farmer Field School programme on good agricultural practices and rapid multiplication techniques.

The project is working to strengthen access to financial services and climate change risk management tools.

• Identifying information gaps on the volume of trade in cassava for financial service organizations and other actors.
• Training local providers of financial services on approaches to financing the cassava value chain.
• Analysing the impacts of climate change on cassava to identify its impact on production variability.
• Developing climate risk management strategies and tools for the various agro-ecological zones training agricultural support services on the use of these tools.