Moroccan OCP Group to Boost Côte d’Ivoire’s Rice Production and Export Goals

This agreement will accelerate the implementation of the National Strategy for the Development of Rice Farming 2020-2030, notes the MAP. The ultimate goal is to make Côte d’Ivoire self-sufficient in rice by 2025 and to make the country one of the largest African exporters by 2030.

Several areas of cooperation are covered by this agreement, including the development and restructuring of rice value chain activities and access to suitable fertilizers, as a major lever for improving rice productivity and the incomes of rice farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, details the same source. In addition, soil studies, training and awareness-raising of rice farmers in good agricultural practices, as well as the digitization of the rice production value chain process, are important components defined by the same agreement.

The signing of this agreement took place in Abidjan, in the presence of the Ivorian Minister of Rice Promotion, Gaoussou Touré and Mohamed Benzekri, representative of OCP Africa in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the Moroccan Ambassador to Abidjan, Abdelmalek Kettani and several members of the Ivorian government. For the Ivorian minister, this is an "important" agreement that Côte d’Ivoire is signing with a "world leader" and which will contribute to "developing rice production in Côte d’Ivoire". For his part, Mohamed Benzekri stressed the "constant" determination of OCP-Africa to support the Ivorian rice sector, to "work hand in hand with the country’s partners and farmers", within the framework of a "win-win" partnership logic.

Present in several African countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria and Rwanda, OCP Africa, which occupies an important place in the phosphate and phosphate fertilizer market, is working for the "development of sustainable and prosperous agriculture, and the establishment of sustainable food systems in Africa," the same source specifies.