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Issouf Fofana has been a specialist in Development Projects since 2006. He began his career as Deputy Managing Director of a holding company with a consultancy department that supports projects and project leaders in territories development.
Then, this expertise allowed him to be a Consultant entrusted to provide training as an Associate Professor at the Senghor University of Alexandria in Egypt. Mr Fofana performs as a lecturer at the African Centre for Management and Executive Development, at the National Office for Technical and Development Studies, and at the University Centre for Professional Training. He is a founding member of the Abidjan Institute of Technology. As a Coordinator and then Head of Monitoring and Evaluation of a Programme of the Islamic Development Bank, he is the head of an international research and strategy office created in 2016 to assist States and development agencies in the designing and elaboration of development projects and programmes.
On 31 March 2023, he will defend his Executive Diploma in Business Administration on the theme “Support for small producer organisations in the informal sector in the cashew and cassava sectors in Côte d’Ivoire”, under the supervision of Professor Pierre-Jean Benghozi, Ecole Polytechnique (Paris) and Université de Genève (GSEM).
Thesis Direction
Pr Pierre-Jean Benghozi
Thesis Title
Support to small producer organisations in the informal sector in the cashew and cassava sectors in Ivory Coast.
Abstract
The present research projects us into the ecosystem of small-scale farmers of cashew and cassava in the localities of Abengourou, Adiaké, Bonoua, Ferkessédougou and Toumodi in Côte d’Ivoire.
The overall objective of the thesis is to understand the factors that explain the low level of access to financial and non-financial services by smallholder farmers in the cashew and cassava value chains. The provisional answer to the problem addressed in this thesis was that the low rate of use of support services by small-scale producers is linked to their socio-economic and cultural realities. The investigations were conducted with 218 small-scale farmers, including 9 leaders, as well as with companies providing services to small-scale farmers in the relevant agricultural sectors. State actors belonging to technical ministries and those working in agencies or entities dedicated to the cashew and cassava sectors also contributed. The results obtained on the basis of observations and data analysis showed that
– The underperformance of small-scale agricultural producers (PPA) is linked to their lack of membership in a formal organization;
– The obstacles linked to access to financial and non-financial services for PPAs are explained by their lack of formal organization, contractualization and financing difficulties;
– The current texts based on the capitalist economy and not on the social and solidarity economy explain the counter-performance of the PPAs (direct actions towards the PPAs).
As a result, the major constraints to the development of small-scale agricultural producers are linked to their weak organization, structuring of their organizations, contractualization and financing. This affects their performance in terms of access to financial and non-financial services. However, the objective of any policy for the organization of small-scale agricultural producers of cashew nuts and cassava should be to organize them into formal groups or cooperatives adapted to their realities. In addition, it should favor the conditions of access to financial and non-financial services for the PPAs through the facilitation of the delivery of administrative documents. This will enable them to become more professional at the grassroots level, and to influence agricultural policies (laws) by considering the cultural specificities of French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, to set up a service platform including a guarantee fund for the viability, sustainability and profitability of agricultural activities.
Thus, with regard to these results, this thesis will have the merit of having proposed reliable mechanisms for accompanying the PPAs based on the socio-economic and cultural realities emanating from the territories, research areas.