Extension Providers

Major Institutions Providing Extension/advisory Services in Cote d'Ivoire

Public Sector

In Cote d'Ivoire, the public sector is represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and semi-autonomous organizations that provide extension services to farmers. These institutions provide extension services through various departments and institutes some of which are listed below:

Government or Ministry Based Extension Service

• Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) 
  • National Agricultural Services Agency (ANADER)
  • Ivorian Company for Textile Development (CIDT)
• Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research 

Public Research Institutions with Extension Unit

• National Center for Agricultural Research (CNRA) {qluetip title=[ ] }The National Center for Agricultural Research is the country's main agricultural R&D agency, accounting for two-thirds of the total research capacity and over three-quarters of its agricultural R&D investments.{/qluetip}
• ASTI Agricultural Research and Development Investments and Capacity in Ivory Coast 

University Based Extension Services

• University of Abidjan
  • Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique
• University Abobo-Adjame (UAA)
• Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boigny 
  • Ecole Superieure d' Agronomie
• Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique (ENSA)
• Institut Agricole de Bouake (IAB)
• Institut de Techniques Tropicale (I2T)
• Institut des Savannes (IDESA)
• Institut des Forets (IDEFOR)

Non-Governmental Organizations

Several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) including national and international NGOs have been created and play an important and increasing role in the life of the people of Cote d'Ivoire. NGOs in the agricultural sector are instrumental in providing advisory services to producers and farmers organizations. The number of NGOs in the country is continuing to grow as a result of the political turbulence that started in 2002 and displaced a large number of people. This increase in numbers has enabled more local issues (health, education, sanitation and social justice) to receive attention from a nongovernmental standpoint. Below is a list of some NGO in Cote d'Ivoire.

• Organisation Conventionnelle des Actions Agricoles de l'Ouest de la Côte d'Ivoire (COCAOCI)
• Ferme et Agriculture (FERAGRO)
• Organisation des Volontaires pour le Développement Local (OVDL)
• Femmes Action pour le Progress
• Femmes Actives de Côte d'Ivoire
• Institut Africain pour le Développement Economique et Social (INADES)
• Convention de la Société Civile Ivoirienne (CSCI)
• Center for Research and Action for Peace (CERAP)

Farmer Based Organizations and Cooperatives

In light of the government disengagement and dwindling revenues from agricultural activities, Ivorian agricultural producers decided to organize themselves into producers groups and cooperative to control and manage the production and marketing channels for agricultural products. In collaboration with producers groups, the government undertook a restructuring of rural communities and passed a series of laws to facilitate farmers' organization into agricultural cooperatives, unions, federations and confederation of cooperatives. The National Association of Agricultural Producer Organizations of Côte d'Ivoire (ANOPACI) was created in 1998 to serve as a platform for exchange among national producers organizations and to represent Côte d'Ivoire farmers at regional and international fora such as ROPPA (Reseau des Organizations Paysannes des Producteurs de l'Afrique de l'Ouest) and FIPA (Federation Internationale de Producteurs Agricoles) (Amoakon, 2007). The following enterprise specific producers' organizations are members of ANOPACI: APACI (anacarde); APROCACI (coffee and cocoa);
APPORCI (pig producers) ; APROCASUDE (sheep and goat); APROCANCI et OPCN (rubber) ; OCAB (pineapple, banana and mango) PROMEXA (non- traditional fruits) ; URECOS-CI-U-COOPAGCI (cotton) ; UACI (poultry) ; la PFACI (platform for women in agriculture in Côte d'Ivoire).

Private Sector Companies

ANADER lacks sufficient resources to provide extension advisory to all producers and the government has relied on the private sector and NGOs to fill the gap. The private sector extension is organized around specific crops (rubber, palm oil, sugar cane and cotton) and livestock (poultry), and private companies growing commercial crops assist small farmers producing similar crops with agricultural advisory services and also distribute key agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. In the case of cocoa, private companies manage cocoa plantations and assist small farmers in processing cocoa beans to produce cocoa products for exportation. Below is a list of some private firms involved in advisory services to farmers in Cote d'Ivoire:

• African Society of Rubber Plantations, Societe Africaine de Plantations d'Heveas (SAPH),
• League of Plantations in Grand Bereby, Société des Caoutchoucs de Grand-Béréby (SOGB), latex project
• Ivorian Company for Textile Development, Société de Développement des Textiles (CIDT)
• Societe Ivoirienne de Productions Animales (SIPRA), Livestock Development Project

List of Extension Providers

 The following list shows an excerpt from the GFRAS Directory of Extension Providers for Ivory Coast. Some of these entries may be specially marked for having more detailed information in the database of the Worldwide Extension Study WWES.

Training

Training Options for Extension Professionals

As Côte d'Ivoire is one of the francophone countries of the sub-region that offers in-country PhD-programs in agricultural sciences, the majority of agricultural professionals are trained locally. Formal training for agricultural professionals at the degree level is provided by the country's three higher education institutions (University of Cocody Abidjan, University Abobo-Adjame, and Ecole Superieure d'Agronomie). These professionals are employed by ANADER to provide agricultural extension and advisory services to farmers. Many extension agents who operate at the grassroots levels have little or no knowledge about extension work, and basic agricultural training for most CAs (Conseillers Agricoles/Field Extension Workers) remained for sometimes a major constraint in ANADER's human resources development.

ANADER inherited a team of local extension workers with diverse educational back ground not exceeding high school diploma and no formal agricultural degree. However, a strategy was conceived and organized to train these extension staff in order to improve their technical, managerial and organizational skills, assure external supervision of trainers and make provisions for continuous technical training for all staff. As a result, the bulk (80%) of these extension workers who were transferred from defunct extension institutions (CIDV, SATMACI, SODEPRA, etc.) received some levels of on the job training in agricultural extension (Romani, 2003). ITC trained staff at national, international, public and private institutions are present in most institutions including agricultural extension in Cote d'Ivoire. But, in the absence of in-service training and the rapid change in technology in the ICT field, the competence and ability of these professionals to deliver information relevant to farmers is challenged and their knowledge could quickly become obsolete.

ICT

Info-Mediaries and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Agriculture and Extension

Conscious of the challenges of ICTs for development, the Government of Cote d'Ivoire decided to bridge the digital gap and keep up with the development of computers and related technology. The government considered ICTs as priority and conceived a national strategic plan for the development of its infrastructure. To implement the plan, the Ivorian government created the Ministry for Communication and Information Technology even though both the national ICT policy and a strategic approach for the management of ICT in the agricultural sector was still unclear (Babacar, 2007). It is reported that in Ivory Cost like in many other developing countries, there is a considerable amount of information on agricultural production and extension at various libraries, agricultural offices, and research institutions around the country. This information includes technical reports, monographs, audio and video documentaries, tapes, statistical data and technical bulletins on various agricultural enterprises and livestock. For the collection and dissemination of this information, the Ministry of Agriculture created the national agricultural documentation network (REDACI) that plays the role of depository of agricultural knowledge and references. Internet services, intranet and call centers developed in and around the capital city of Abidjan are yet to be available in rural areas and NGO involved in agricultural extension advisory services have limited access to the innovative technology. In spite of the limited internet use in Cote d'Ivoire, there has been a rapid growth in the use of mobile phone in the country. The World Bank 2009 statistics report indicated that 63.3 percent of the population of Cote d'Ivoire owned and operated a mobile phone while only 4.6 percent had access to internet in 2009.

Ivory Coast uses Frontline SMS (text messaging system, both inbound and outbound) as an ICT tool to share information on the world market for the cashew value chain. Other mobile application platforms including Esoko (mobile-based agriculture market information exchange for individuals and businesses) and Manobi (a market information system with related agriculture information services) are found in Ivory Coast. The National Association of Agricultural Producer Organizations of Côte d'Ivoire (ANOPACI) uses Esoko system. The technology uses mobile phones, internet and information systems to provide live market feeds, direct SMS marketing, scout polling and online profiling and marketing to end users (Gakuru et al., 2009).

References

Resources and References

Amoakon, D. 2007. Les Organisations Paysannes en Côte d'Ivoire. Recherches Internationales,
n° 80, Octobre-écembre 2007, pp. 149-156

Babacar Fall. 2007. ICT in Education in Cote d'Ivoire. Survey of ICT and Education in Africa:Côte D'Ivoire Country Report 

CIA Report: Cote d'Ivoire Economy 2012: 2012 Cia World Factbook and other Sources.

Kwame Kouassi, A. 2008. Cote d'Ivoire. In Agricultural Extension-Worldwide Innovations. (R.
Saravanan Ed.). New India Publishing Agency, Pitam Pura, New Delhi.

Romani, M. 2003. The impact of extension services in times of crisis: Côte d'Ivoire (1997-2000),
CSAE WPS/2003-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford. 

Statistics

Statistical Indicators                                                                                               

Source: The World Bank
*Food and Agriculture Organization