Japan International Cooperation Agency [Thursday, Nov 10, 2016]
Signing of Grant Agreement with Côte d’Ivoire:Promoting the fisheries industry and improving the living environment for local residents through the construction of fisheries facilities
On November 9, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a grant agreement (G/A) with the Government of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to provide grant aid of up to 2.659 billion yen for the Project for Construction of Landing Facilities and the Central Market for the Development of the Commercial Area of the Town of Sassandra.
This project will relocate and rebuild the Central Market in Sassandra, one of the fishing industry centers in Côte d’Ivoire, and construct an unloading site and other facilities for the existing landing to stimulate the country’s fisheries industry.
The fisheries industry in the Côte d’Ivoire directly generates employment for 70,000 people and in general supports the lives of approximately two percent of the population, or 400,000 people. However, the fisheries industry accounts for only approximately 0.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, and Côte d’Ivoire must rely on foreign imports for many of their marine products. Given these circumstances, the Government of the Côte d’Ivoire has established the goal of “increasing productivity and competitiveness in marine products” in its “Strategic Development Plan for Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture”* (2014–2020) to promote the fisheries industry. The government’s aims include increasing the domestic production of marine products by promoting the micro-fishing industry which accounts for approximately 85 percent of the volume of marine products.
In Sassandra, a center of micro-fishing where fishing is a key industry, commercial activities are flourishing with the influx of people in the coastal area where the Central Market is located. The retail area has also been expanding, reaching the city center area and the unloading area which is next to the Central Market. In addition to impacting urban traffic, this expansion makes it difficult to transport marine products from the landing to the sales area in a sanitary manner and hinders the smooth transportation of goods to the Central Market. Although Sassandra has been gradually executing a long-term plan to transfer the core of commercial activities, excluding the fisheries industry, to a new inland commercial zone, the Central Market has not been transferred due to its large size, and completing that transfer has become a pressing issue.
This project will relocate the Sassandra Central Market and construct facilities such as an unloading area and a storage building at the existing landing to improve the unloading and product distribution efficiency, and to improve the freshness and quality of marine products. It is expected that these measures will contribute to the further development of the fisheries industry in Sassandra, to an improved flow of goods in the town and a better living environment there.
From a perspective of promoting industry, JICA provides support in the fisheries field through such measures as dispatching fishing and aquaculture technology advisors to Côte d’Ivoire, and will continue to implement cooperation that contributes to economic growth in the country, including in the fisheries field.
* Le Plan Stratégique de Développement de l’Elevage, de la Pêche et de l’Aquaculture
