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Increase the Revenue of Tomato Smallholders Farmers of Zatta (Côte d’Ivoire) by Linking them to Additional Customers

LONO-CI SARL, Research and development, Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire)

Abstract

Côte d’Ivoire is a western country of Africa with an economy particularly depending on agricultural outcomes. This sector is 28% part of the GDP. As in several countries, agricultural products come from the rural areas and are sold in the big cities. Nevertheless, the Ivorian rural population is the poorest with an increased rate of 3.4% during the five last years. Tomato, for example, is a daily product used in Côte d’Ivoire for each meal. Tomato can be cultivated all over the country but come, mainly, from Abengourou (eastern part) and Zatta (central part). Some farmers interviewed revealed two challenges for small-scale farmers in this last village. First, they undergo the foreign competition (especially Burkina Faso and Niger) in off-season, so they are obliged to reduce the price of the kilogram from 2,000 fcfa – 3,000 fcfa to 1,000 fcfa – 1,500 fcfa. Secondly, because of glut production in favourable season, they can register some losses due to unsold stock. According to FAO, this loss can be estimated to 10%. Because of low level of knowledges in marketing, they remain focused on the local traditional market and on resellers. So, we think about Hop’ vegetables, as a social company that will work for small-scale tomato farmers giving them a marketing support. The main goal is to connect them to additional customers and sell those 10% of their harvest through an application and decentralised modern vegetable shop. The target additional customers are composed of educated women, employed or with regular income, familiar to online shop and who desire to be delivered their vegetables (17% of interviewed) or to purchase them in a close and clean market (67% of interviewed). The cities of Abidjan and Yamoussoukro are chosen for the first step as they register totally around 2, 000, 000 of the target group, and because of many facilities related to company registration and functioning. With a percentage of sales, the company is expected to be amortized in four to five years. The profit will be reinvested in projects for small-scale farmers well-being.

Keywords: Application, Côte d’Ivoire, farmers, marketing, shop, small-scale, support, tomatoes

Contact Address: Audrey Sakhon Dominique Dieket, LONO-CI SARL, Research and development, Abidjan, Cocody 2 Plateux mobile, Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire), e-mail: audreydieketgmail.com