Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire is a major coastal economy in West Africa, with strong regional links to the Sahel through its ports, transport corridors, and trade networks. Its geography ranges from humid coastal and forest zones in the south to savanna systems in the north, with rainfall patterns shaping crop calendars, market supply, labor demand, and seasonal access to food and income. The country has recorded strong macroeconomic growth and remains one of Africa’s largest economies, supported by agriculture, services, infrastructure investment, and its role as a logistics gateway for landlocked neighbors.

Agriculture remains central to livelihoods and the national economy, accounting for about a quarter of GDP, more than 75 percent of exports, and employment and income for two-thirds of households. Rural households rely heavily on rainfed smallholder production, agricultural labor, livestock activities, and cash crop sales. Cocoa and cashew are especially important for rural liquidity, debt repayment, staple food purchases, export earnings, and public revenue. Urban households depend more heavily on informal labor and market purchases, with rice serving as a major staple.

National food availability is favorable, supported by domestic production of maize, cassava, yam, plantain, and other staples, alongside imports of rice, wheat, and vegetable oil. However, Côte d’Ivoire remains structurally dependent on imports for key staples, particularly rice and wheat. Food supply and price transmission depend on coastal ports, the Abidjan–north corridor, fuel and transport costs, import price trends, and market flows between central and northern production zones and major urban consumption centers such as Abidjan, Bouaké, Korhogo, and Man.

Despite favorable national availability, poor households remain exposed to shocks that affect food access, purchasing power, income, and mobility. Prices typically peak during the May-July lean season, when household stocks decrease and planting activities reduce market availability, then decline around harvests as supply improves. Weather shocks, transport costs, rice import price trends, Sahel-related insecurity, and disruptions along trade corridors can raise transaction costs and increase price volatility, particularly in remote northern markets.

Security risks remain localized but consequential, especially in northern and northeastern border areas affected by Sahel spillover. Increased checkpoints, movement restrictions, and insecurity can disrupt cross-border trade, reduce trader activity, constrain labor migration, limit access to fields and grazing areas, and raise costs for households and markets. Refugee and asylum-seeker inflows from Burkina Faso and Mali also increase pressure on land, water, services, social cohesion, and local markets, especially during the lean season or years of below-average production. 

Nutrition outcomes reflect uneven diet quality, suboptimal infant and young child feeding practices, disease burden, and gaps in water, sanitation, and health services. National global acute malnutrition has generally remained within the Alert range of 5-9.9 percent in recent nationally representative surveys, although population movements and incomplete survey reporting limit the assessment of current trends.