Consultation workshop: Financing, partnerships, and innovation for sustainable agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire
The National Polytechnic Institute Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB) is hosting the Consultation Forum titled “Financing, partnerships, entrepreneurship, and innovation for climate-resilient agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire” on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Abidjan.
As part of the development of the “International Innovation Hub West Africa,” this high-level workshop follows consultation forums held in Benin and Senegal. It will bring together national and international stakeholders, including government representatives, researchers, business leaders, and organizations supporting innovation and value creation. This participatory forum aims to foster collective action to strengthen Côte d’Ivoire’s innovation ecosystem in terms of food security, climate resilience, and economic sustainability, and to lay the groundwork for a regional Innovation Challenge called the “West Africa Agri-Food Challenge.”
The Ivorian agricultural sector is one of the main pillars of the national economy. According to 2026 data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Production, agriculture employs nearly 40% of the active population, contributes around 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and is the primary source of income for the majority of rural households.
Côte d’Ivoire also holds a strategic position in international agricultural markets. The country is the world’s leading producer of cocoa, accounting for approximately 40% of global production, and is among Africa’s top producers of crops such as cashew nuts, rubber, palm oil, and coffee. However, the agricultural sector still faces several structural challenges that limit its potential. These include low productivity in certain food crops, limited access to quality agricultural inputs, low adoption of modern technologies, and a still-developing agricultural financing system. In addition, Ivorian agriculture is highly dependent on rainfall variability and is therefore very vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
In this context, the Ivorian government has launched several reforms and programs aimed at modernizing the agricultural sector and strengthening its competitiveness. Among these is the National Agricultural Investment Program (PNIA), a key structural program.
It seeks to promote sustainable, competitive agriculture that generates fairly distributed wealth, while enhancing food security and agro-industrial transformation.
The Consultation Forum “Financing, partnerships, entrepreneurship, and innovation for climate-resilient agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire” serves as a strategic multi-stakeholder dialogue platform aimed at mobilizing stakeholders and pre-identifying solutions tailored to climate-resilient agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa.
If you wish to participate in the forum in person or collaborate on this initiative, please contact Mr. Landry ZONSREU, Project Manager for IIH-WA at INP-HB, at the following address: [email protected]
This forum is organized by INP-HB as part of the Fonds Équipe France project “International Innovation Hub – West Africa,” an initiative aimed at building an ecosystem of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support Structures (SAEI) to address the challenges of transforming and developing food systems. This two-year project brings together a consortium of twelve research and innovation organizations, led by leading universities in Senegal, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire (University Ussein, University of Abomey-Calavi, INP-HB/ESA), along with Agropolis International, Institut Agro Montpellier, CGIAR, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (via the CGIAR Accelerate for Impact platform), CIRAD, IRD, Gaston Berger University, DER/FJ, and Afric’Innov.
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