Côte d’Ivoire has secured a US$50 million climate finance package from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to help thousands of smallholder farmers adapt to climate change and improve the resilience of the country’s key food crops.
The funding will support the Enhancing Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Resilient Agri-food Systems in Côte d’Ivoire (LARACI) project, which aims to help rice, cassava and yam farmers in the country’s central regions adopt climate-smart agricultural practices.
The five-year project brings together the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, CGIAR and the country’s Interprofessional Fund for Agricultural Research and Advice (FIRCA) to scale proven climate solutions across the regions of N’Zi, Moronou, Iffou, La Mé and Gbêkê.
According to CGIAR, the initiative will place 110,600 hectares of land under improved low-emission and climate-resilient management, while directly benefiting 147,000 smallholder farmers through improved climate information services, extension support and agroforestry interventions. The project also aims to reduce more than 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
Farmers in these regions are increasingly grappling with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, floods and climate-induced pest outbreaks that threaten staple crops central to livelihoods and national food security.
The project will promote several climate-smart practices, including cassava-legume intercropping to improve soil fertility and reduce erosion, wider adoption of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to increase water-use efficiency and lower methane emissions, and climate-smart staking techniques to improve yam production and increase carbon sequestration.
Funding comprises a US$40 million GCF grant and US$10 million in co-financing from the Government of Côte d’Ivoire and CGIAR partners. Technical expertise will be provided by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and CGIAR’s Climate Action Science Program.
Oumar N’Diaye, Executive Director of FIRCA, said the project would provide the resources needed to address the growing climate crisis facing farmers.
“Ivorian farmers are now on the front lines facing the effects of climate change. The LARACI project gives us the means to act on the necessary scale by providing concrete, scientifically proven solutions tailored to on-the-ground realities. FIRCA will draw on its recognized expertise in fiduciary management, the coordination of large-scale projects, and the mobilization of climate finance to ensure effective, transparent, and results-oriented implementation.”
Catherine Koffman, GCF Regional Director for Africa, said the investment would help remove barriers that prevent finance from reaching farmers and strengthen the systems needed to scale climate-smart agriculture nationwide.
“By tackling the structural barriers that keep finance from reaching Côte d’Ivoire’s farmers, this investment can unlock a more resilient, productive and inclusive agri-food economy,” she said.
Meanwhile, AfricaRice Director General Baboucarr Manneh described the initiative as a partnership model that combines research and implementation to achieve impact at scale.
“Together, and with the backing of GCF and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, we can reach farmers at a scale that would not be possible working alone.”
Simeon Ehui said the initiative marked a significant milestone for climate finance on the continent.
“This project is a milestone for CGIAR and for climate finance in Africa. As CGIAR’s first Green Climate Fund project, it demonstrates that agricultural research organizations can do more than generate knowledge; they can directly mobilize and deliver finance to farmers who need it most. The country-led model we are advancing in Côte d’Ivoire provides a scalable blueprint for accelerating climate resilience across Africa.”
The project directly supports Côte d’Ivoire’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan and its Nationally Determined Contributions, reinforcing the country’s efforts to strengthen food security, ecological transition and climate adaptation.
