For years, Coulibaly Soumaïla struggled to produce enough rice from his one hectare of farmland. The harvest from the lowland field in Outouké in the Tabou district of Côte d'Ivoire was just enough for his family to consume, with nothing left to sell.
As a member of the Tabou rice farmers' association, the 54-year-old dreamed of expanding his production, but lacked the resources to do so. An unbreakable cycle of poverty ensued: low yields meant low income, which meant no capital for better seeds or fertilizers, which perpetuated low yields. A story that many of Côte d'Ivoire's farmers are familiar with.
In 2024, everything changed for Coulibaly, with the launch in his community of the 2 PAU-CI project (Emergency Food Production Programme Côte d'Ivoire). Financed through a loan from the African Development Bank Group, and implemented with technical support from ANADER, the project provided Coulibaly and thousands of other smallholder farmers like him with a comprehensive package that met their needs: high-quality agricultural inputs for up to 3.5 hectares: GT11 rice seeds, NPK 17-17-17 fertilizer, and urea. Complementing these were expert guidance on proper cultivation practices and fertilizer application, and connections to buyers and reliable input suppliers.
The results were nothing short of remarkable. Coulibaly's production soared from 0.75 tonnes per hectare to 4 tonnes per hectare, a five-fold increase. The 3.5 hectares he cultivated yielded 14 tonnes of paddy rice - for the first time in his farming life, he had surplus rice to sell.
12.4 tonnes of the paddy yielded, at 300 FCFA per kilogram, 3,720,000 FCFA in total sales. Accounting for 800,000 FCFA in production costs, Coulibaly netted 2,900,000 FCFA in profit, an amount unimaginable just a year earlier.
The money enabled him make strategic investments to upgrade both his farm and quality of life:
- A winnowing machine purchased for 160,000 FCFA, to improve the quality and efficiency of processing his paddy
- 350,000 FCFA set aside to purchase inputs for the 2025 growing season, ensuring sustainability
- Completion of construction of his family home, a four-room villa that now provides security and dignity
- 1.6 tons of rice retained for family consumption, ensuring food security throughout the year
A grateful Coulibaly sums up the transforming impact of the project.
"Thanks to the 2PAU-CI project, I multiplied my production by five. I was able to sell part of my harvest, build and complete my house, send my children to school, and improve my family's diet. My hope is that inputs reach us on time and that we receive more equipment like motorized cultivators and threshing machines to produce even better," he said.
He's now looking forward to more growth and expansion: establishing a fish farm, installing a rice mill, and cultivating maize on the 3.5 hectares during the off-season. A success shared with many other project beneficiaries, and demonstrating how strategic agricultural support can break the cycle of subsistence farming and create sustainable prosperity in rural communities across Africa.
