Le Salon de l'Agriculture was held in Paris from February 22 to March 2, 2025. On the occasion, the Ivorian Minister of Agriculture and Sustainable Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, wanted to highlight the desire of his country to develop rice cultivation, up to the point of self-sufficiency of his country. The minister indicates that the country can reach its target sooner than expected.

Ivory Coast decides to produce intensive rice in limited areas and with applied technology. According to Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, in the 1970s, Côte d'Ivoire was already self-sufficient in rice. In reality, the country's needs to achieve food self-sufficiency are in the order of 2.1 million tons. The establishment of the National Agricultural Investment Program (PNIA I — 2010-2015), made it possible to reach 900,000 tons of milled

In 2023, the minister said, “we went up to 1.3 million tons. And we have just taken stock of our activities: we are now at 1.55 million tons.” In view of this, Minister Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani reassures that instead of achieving the goals in 2030, the country could do it well before. “We estimate that with the progress observed between 2023 and 2024, we will be able to reach these self-sufficiency goals by the end of 2026”

Likewise, the latter said: “In order for us to reach it, we need improved, and therefore high-yielding seeds. We have the National Center for Agricultural Research working on it. Seeds that would adapt to the climate, because we must not forget that there are the harmful effects of climate change that play on our agricultural productions.”