Côte d’Ivoire

Even as a child, Gninlnagnon Koné , a young man from Katiola in north central Côte d'Ivoire, liked to follow his parents, who grew tubers and maize, to their farm.

Today, an engineer in agricultural business management, he says, “When I became an engineer, I realised that our agricultural producers still face the same difficulties with processing their products. People work hard but ultimately their products are undervalued and sell poorly. It made me want to change things. I decided to process these products to create added value and give farmers the chance to live a better life from the fruits of their labour,” he explains.  

He too tried hard to set up an agricultural business without success. That is, until he encountered the Enable Youth Côte d'Ivoire project. 

“My sole idea in coming to the Higher School of Agronomy (ESA) in Yamoussoukro, the country's political capital, was to get access to tools that would enable me to become a real agricultural entrepreneur as I've always dreamed,” he says, standing in front of a machine that roasts tiger nuts and maize. 

Koné's food supplement for babies—named Cherubins— is a formula based on rice and tiger nuts. It also contains agricultural ingredients that set it apart from other food supplements available in Côte d'Ivoire, a market dominated by major brands, as Koné – good salesman that he is – hastens to add.  

“The product is a fortified infant formula, made with 100% highly nutritious local agricultural products. It complies with all World Health Organization (WHO) standards in terms of infant nutrition. And it's identical to all the imported infant formulas that flood our markets,” he explains. 

“It's an alternative we're offering to mums to ensure that children transition safely from breastmilk to solid food,” adds Koné. 

Packed in 200g bags and then into attractive little blue boxes decorated with tiger nuts and grains of rice, Cherubins formula is made from brown or black rice, which is high in fibre and also an excellent antioxidant.  

The rice is combined with other locally produced cereals, such as tiger nuts and soya. This adds lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, he explains.   

“We also add mineral and vitamin supplements derived from other local products, such as roselle, moringa, carrot, mango and sometimes ginger to give the formula – which tastes amazing – a special flavour,” Koné adds.  

 “We researched the market for infant formulas and developed a strategy to enable us to penetrate the market by meeting consumer expectations. We're now ready to tackle it, with a well-honed strategy, solid market research and a number of test products. It all points to our being able to compete with the products already on the market,” he explains. 

Set up by the government of Côte d'Ivoire with funding from the African Development Bank, the Enable Youth project is a national programme that seeks to attract young people into the agricultural sector. Its primary aim is to support young graduates to create businesses all along the agricultural value chain.  

As well as offering a six-month training course, the project will provide partial funding for 20 young entrepreneurs to set up their businesses.  

Subsistence agriculture plays an important role in the economy of Côte d'Ivoire, the world's leading cocoa producer. The authorities now want to see agricultural products processed locally to create added value for the country's economy which, with over 7% annual growth since 2013 – excluding the Covid-19 years – remains one of the world's most dynamic economies. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Viviane Kakou, who has a master's degree in geography, didn't want to spend her career in an office. She chose agriculture out of passion. Thanks to the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), her dream of becoming an agricultural entrepreneur is taking shape. 

“When I was studying for my degree,” she explains, “I was working on the rural economy among women in Afféry, in Adzopé department in the south-east of the country. I began to appreciate agriculture and thought I could earn my living from it. So, I came to it out of choice.” 

For almost six months, Kakou, a 37-year-old woman, has been training at the Higher School of Agronomy (ESA) in Yamoussoukro, the country's political capital, which is implementing the project to employ young people in agribusinesses in Côte d'Ivoire (“Enable Youth Côte d'Ivoire”). This national programme has received €1.4 million in financial support from the African Development Bank. 

The project, as part of its incubation phase, is training a new generation of young farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs and equipping them to support the structural transformation of local agriculture through technological innovation. It also encourages young graduates, aged 21-37, to return to the land if they have a minimum of two years' post-secondary education. 

“I'm working on the value chain for cassava. I chose to work in subsistence agriculture because I see cassava as white gold,” explains Kakou. In 2017, she visited Brazil, thanks to the project, which offered her a training course on cassava. “The main derivative of cassava, here, is attiéke. But there are so many cassava derivatives that can be used,” she says, buoyed by the support she has been given by Enable Youth to create her small enterprise. 

“This project is important, because it creates optimal conditions for agricultural entrepreneurship through support for capacity building, promoting professionals in agriculture and funding projects for young people,” says ESA's Director, Siaka Koné, with delight. 

In 2018, 70%-90% of working age Ivorians were in vulnerable jobs or unemployed. Kone says: “The aim of the “Enable Youth Côte d'Ivoire” project is to build the capacity of young graduates to create businesses in agricultural value chains. Young graduates will be trained in the skills needed by modern farmers using incubators that support agri-business projects. Following the incubation phase, they will receive support to fund their businesses.”

In addition to agriculture and animal production, beneficiaries of the “Enable Youth Côte d'Ivoire” pilot project are also learning about processing and e-commerce. This includes producing and processing cassava into flour, attiéke, a food staple, and other derivatives, such as liquid cassava waste, which can be processed into ethanol.

Others are working to produce and process peppers into purée and powder, off-season production of plantain; quail and quail eggs; oyster and Ganoderma mushrooms; and rearing rabbits or guinea fowl. 

Kakou would like to see other young graduates follow in her footsteps. “I'd like to send a message to young people, especially young women, and tell them that I wasn't simply at a loose end. I have a master's degree in geography, so finding a job wouldn't have been an issue. But there are lots of opportunities in agriculture. I'd recommend they get involved. We can coach them to change their plans,” says Kakou, who in addition to Brazil, has travelled to Ibadan, Nigeria, to advance her agricultural know-how, thanks to the African Development Bank. 

“I'd like to thank the African Development Bank, our Minister for Young People and the Youth Employment Programme. Thanks to them, my dream is coming true,” Kakou concludes, standing in an experimental cassava field of a quarter of a hectare in size. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).