AfDB Project Empowers 21,000 Women Farmers in Côte d’Ivoire

A cassava field just minutes from a rural road north of Côte d'Ivoire's commercial capital Abidjan is quietly transforming the livelihoods of thousands of women farmers, thanks to a development program backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The initiative, known as the Women-led Staple Food Cooperative Advisory Project, is helping women farmers strengthen their agricultural businesses, improve climate resilience and access better markets. Since its launch in 2022, the project has supported 322 women-led cooperatives, benefiting more than 21,300 women across the country.

The program recently hosted a delegation from the African Development Bank Group led by Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society, who visited women farmers cultivating cassava — a staple crop widely consumed across West Africa.

Building Climate-Resilient Farming

During the visit, women farmers demonstrated new cultivation techniques designed to help crops withstand reduced rainfall and climate variability, an increasing challenge for agricultural communities.

Cassava remains a vital crop for both household consumption and local markets, but farmers in regions such as Toumodi in central Côte d'Ivoire face difficulties accessing commercial markets.

Challenges include limited storage facilities, inadequate processing capacity and high transportation costs, all of which reduce farmers' ability to secure fair prices for their products.

Training Women to Manage and Grow Businesses

A central component of the program is skills development and financial literacy, enabling women farmers to manage their cooperatives more effectively and expand their production.

More than 1,500 women have received functional literacy training, equipping them with basic financial and management skills needed to run profitable agricultural businesses.

"The project helped us learn to expand our thinking, to know our land better," said Anastasie Kouadio, Chairperson of the Union Vivrière Etraikpa de Toumodi cooperative.

"We know we can grow the products, but we wanted to learn how to finance expanding cassava production," she explained. "What is financial accounting? How do we become financially literate? This project allowed us to reach women farmers who could not read or write."

Access to Finance and Value Addition

The initiative is funded through the African Development Bank's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program, which allocated $1.5 million to support the project.

Working in partnership with UN Women, the program provides women farmers with access to financing, leadership training and value-added processing skills.

Key achievements include:

• Training 200 women in product packaging and labeling

• Governance and management training for 400 cooperative members

• Support for improved agricultural processing and value addition

The project is also developing a digital marketplace called "Blaatto", meaning "come and buy" in the Baoulé language, to help cooperatives sell their products online and reach wider markets.

Rising Incomes Support Education

Women farmers involved in the project say improved processing techniques and market access have already increased their earnings.

Higher incomes have enabled many participants to invest in their families' futures, including paying school fees for their children.

"You are producing the food that Côte d'Ivoire is eating. You are processing the food that Côte d'Ivoire is eating," Njuki told the women during a community dialogue.

"Our role at the Bank, in partnership with UN Women, is to support you," she added.

Njuki emphasized that empowering women farmers has broader social benefits, from improved nutrition to stronger local economies.

"It is through women that our children are educated. It is through women that there is good nutrition. It is through the hard work of women that villages like this one thrive," she said.

Calls for Mechanization to Boost Production

Despite the progress, cooperative leaders say additional investments are needed to scale up production.

Women farmers expressed interest in access to agricultural machinery and improved processing equipment to increase productivity and ensure consistent quality of cassava-based products.

"There's land here. We have the cassava product," said Rose Jeannette Koffi, a leader of the Les Moissonneuses federation of women-led farming cooperatives.

"We've done the entrepreneurship training and had coaching. We are capable of more," she said.

Driving Inclusive Agricultural Growth

During meetings with local officials in Toumodi, Njuki described the program as a catalyst for inclusive and sustainable agricultural transformation.

By strengthening women-led cooperatives, improving market access and building climate resilience, the initiative aims to foster long-term, gender-responsive economic growth in Côte d'Ivoire's rural communities.