Agriculture in Ivory Coast

[1] Contributing to this impressive performance were an abundance of fertile land, cheap labor, the collective efforts of many farmers cultivating small plots, relatively favorable commodity prices, and a stable political environment.

A series of actions were executed, including developments in areas of economic trade and market, transportation and communication, African civilians’ legal rights opportunities, and elite projects for the intelligence input into Europe.

This Federation of French West Africa included 8 countries: Mauritania, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Benin.

Not only solving up civilians’ basic food crises, but agricultural surplus could help produce other products and commodities, which facilitates trade and market to flow and function.

The Gulf of Guinea is a coastal region situated by the Atlantic Ocean, and its river outlets had drained through almost all West African territories.

[7] Despite the natural geographical advantage of Ivory Coast, the irrigation systems invested by the French government over the Niger Valley had boosted the production of cash-corps as well.

Basically all administrative offices were set in Abidjan, and it was the major stopover place for cash-corp products to be exported to France and where all returned manufactured goods were imported.

[1] Moreover, highly volatile world markets for both commodities caused sharp fluctuations in government revenues and made development planning difficult.

[1] In addition, Ivory Coast was not yet self-sufficient in food production and imported substantial quantities of rice, wheat, fish, and red meat.

[1] The plan, estimated to cost CFA F100 billion per annum (with just over 50 percent coming from foreign lenders) would allow the country to become self-sufficient in food (with the exception of wheat) and expand the production of rubber, cotton, sugar, bananas, pineapples, and tropical oils.

[1] The vast revenues collected by the CSSPPA were often spent on marginally profitable investments, like the costly sugar complexes or expensive land clearing programs.