More than 320,000 visitors are expected at the Abidjan International Agriculture and Animal Resources Fair (SARA 2023) scheduled from September 29 to October 08, 2023. The Ivorian Prime Minister, Patrick Achi, proceeded this Thursday, February 9 to the official launch preparatory work for the 6th edition of the International Exhibition of Agriculture and Animal Resources of Abidjan (SARA), in front of the players in the sector.
“With more than 22% of GDP and 60% of sustainable jobs in 2020, the agricultural sector indeed occupies a place like no other in our national socio-economic fabric”, declared the Ivorian Prime Minister, showing the scope of this event. .
He said that this sector is at the heart of the 2030 vision of the Head of State, Alassane Ouattara and the structural transformations that Côte d’Ivoire wants to achieve in the context of its agricultural production and its industrial take-off, as well as export capabilities.
The theme chosen for this 6th edition of SARA is “African Agriculture facing the challenges of internal and external shocks: What structural innovations to improve the agricultural sectors and guarantee the food sovereignty of our countries?” “.
The sector is a huge source of new job creation and additional income. The Ivorian State plans through this fair to attract investors with the signing of conventions and business contracts.
The 6th edition of SARA will be held in a global social and economic context tested by the consequences of the pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, but also by those of climate change and, for West Africa, by the presence of the terrorism and crises in some countries of the sub-region.
Exhibition challenges and innovations
The Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, welcomed the fact that today SARA is positioning itself as a real agricultural showcase of the sub-region which essentially aims to promote agricultural products.
SARA also wants to be a platform for promoting livestock farming, fishing, forestry, the agro-food industry and publicizing the capacities of agricultural production and trade in the sub-region with the rest of the world.
For this edition, more than 320,000 visitors are expected according to the General Commissioner of SARA, Ms. Diénébou Condé Touré, mentioning that the event will be held at the Abidjan Exhibition Center over a total area of 20 ha. The show will welcome 800 exhibitors.
The Ivorian State intends to initiate technical and commercial partnerships of the South-South and North-South type within the framework of the implementation of the National Development Program (PND, 2021-2025) at a total cost of 59,000 billion CFA francs, of which 74 % of investments was allocated to the private sector.
Mr. Adjoumani noted that to increase the mobilization of financial resources for the agricultural sector, business meetings are organized during the previous SARA, in 2019. These meetings took place within the framework of two concepts: The Project Exchange and business to business (B2B) meetings.
“These meetings made it possible to sign agreements and conventions whose overall amounts increased from 38 billion CFA francs in 2015 to 238 billion CFA francs in 2019”, revealed the Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture and rural development.
SARA 2023 focuses on Agritech, sovereignty and food security in Africa. Today, in Africa, nearly 285 million people suffer daily from hunger according to the latest figures from the FAO.
More than 20% of the continent’s population is undernourished due to food sovereignty and food security deficits. A prevalence two and a half times higher than the world average, which has major impacts on the growth of children.
“Our continent, terribly dependent on the outside for its food, is in turn seeing food inflation grow. This reached nearly 14% in Africa in 2022 after 13% in 2021, according to the AfDB, at its highest for more than a decade”, observed Mr. Patrick Achi.
With 25% of the world’s arable land and especially 65% of the remaining arable land, Africa has the full potential to feed itself and 9 billion people in the world by 2050. Its vast areas of savanna alone are estimated to 400 million hectares, of which only 10% is cultivated.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands in the spotlight
“This choice to put the Netherlands in the spotlight is of course not the result of chance. The Netherlands is, as everyone knows, the leading trading partner of Côte d’Ivoire in terms of cocoa exports and therefore an absolutely central player in our present and our future”, explained Mr. Patrick Achi.
Even more, he will say, the Netherlands is an exceptional agricultural nation whose model can only be a source of inspiration for Côte d’Ivoire. They are an agricultural nation dominated by family-type farms, as in Côte d’Ivoire.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands has managed, thanks to productivity and the use of technology, to rank 2nd in the world as an exporter of agricultural products behind the United States, also playing its role as an import/export platform for European Union.
With the power of the port of Rotterdam, which is one of the eight largest ports in the world, the Netherlands is an agricultural powerhouse that is among the champions of sustainable agriculture in the world. The choice of country comes after that of the Kingdom of Morocco in 2015, South Africa in 2017 and France in 2019.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Côte d’Ivoire, Mrs. Yvette Daoud, was delighted with the choice of her country. The diplomat assured that her country will put the Dutch industrial giants in contact with the actors of the Ivorian agricultural, fishing and animal sector.
