Understanding the Ivorian market vegetables production: Is the agroecological transition the right strategy?

CONTEXT: African agriculture, and especially market vegetables production, which is dominated by smallholder systems, generally faces many challenges. There is growing interest in agroecology as a means to move towards more sustainable food and farming systems. The West African region is considered by FAO to feature the conditions to become “a global frontrunner in agroecology”, and ongoing efforts in Côte d'Ivoire attempts to understand and promote agroecology in vegetable production. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to present a functional analysis of the Ivorian suburban market vegetables value chain, and discuss the suitability of and agroecological transition of the agricultural production link, towards more sustainable vegetables production in the country. METHODS: A thorough functional analysis of the Ivorian market vegetables value chain was conducted, including the construction of typologies to identify the links between agroecological practices and overall technical and socio-economic efficiencies. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: The available data (primary, secondary) allows but only a superficial understanding of the Ivorian market vegetables value chain. The analysis of economic returns as a function of their adoption of agroecological practices suggests that “formal” agroecological farms struggle economically, more so than the rest of producers. Observed relations between yields and certain agroecological practices practiced by most Ivorian producers, in combination with the functional analysis of the value chain, suggest that an intensification of these practices, coupled with improvements of the enabling environment (necessary to palliate the inputs cost and product price variability, as well as improve and secure access to land), may overall contribute to improved yields and higher gross margins. More and more detailed studies are necessary to determine the agroecological practices and their level of adoption that would minimise negative environmental and maximise positive socio-economic impacts. In Côte d'Ivoire, agroecology must prove its worth, through action-research initiatives, in order to further develop in terms of breadth and depth of application.