The Louis Dreyfus Foundation has asked Fert to create an agricultural and rural training centre (CFAR) in Côte d’Ivoire. After opportunity and feasibility studies, the Poro region, and more precisely the municipality of Niofoin, was selected for the location of the centre. The project is based on local communities and in particular farmers and their organizations.
The studies carried out in 2017-2018 made it possible to validate the relevance of creating a training centre for young future farmers, then to specify its location, the actors involved and the resources needed to set it up.
Strategically located in the rural sub-prefecture of Niofoin, equidistant from two regional capitals (Korhogo and Boundiali), the 15ha site has good agricultural potential.
In collaboration with local stakeholders and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fert initiated the process of securing land. In parallel, a work to mobilize local actors made it possible to set up the CFAR management committee at the end of 2018.
LOCAL COMMUNITIES STRONGLY INVOLVED
All the actors met in the sub-prefectures of the Bagoué and Poro regions, a total of 703 people, expressed their satisfaction at participating in the creation of such a training centre for their young people. They hope that this centre will contribute to the emergence of a new generation of professional farmers and to the reduction of poverty and banditry.
The CFAR plans have been validated with the management committee. Construction will begin in April 2019 and inauguration is scheduled for November 2019.
BUILD ON THE EXPERIENCE OF FERT IN MADAGASCAR
Jan Christoph Kabath, head of the Africa division of Louis Dreyfus Company, visited the Fekama[1] agricultural college in Manganoro, located in the Alaotra Mangoro region of Madagascar.
This is the 5th agricultural college created by the agri-agency Fert and the farmers’ organization Fifata in Madagascar.
This visit provided a better understanding of how an agricultural college operates, from training to support for the professional integration of young people, and the involvement of stakeholders in the creation, management and orientations of the centre. This experience is essential to the success of the CFAR project in Côte d’Ivoire.
1] Fekama, a member of the Fifata Group, is a federation of 5 agricultural colleges in Madagascar
