Chinese Government dispatches 9th Agricultural Technical Assistance Mission to Cote d'Ivoire (Linked to Record ID#66174, #66171, #66160, #66175)

Project narrative

At an unknown date, Chinese and Ivorian officials committed to initiating the 9th Chinese Agricultural Technical Assistance Mission (MATAC or Mission d'Assistance Technique Agricole Chinoise) in Guiguidou, a rice reclamation area spanning 432 hectares near Divo in Lôh-Djiboua region. The 9th Agricultural Technical Assistance Mission to Cote d'Ivoire was made up of 8 Chinese experts who stayed for a 2-year-long mission beginning in 2014 and ending in 2016. During this mission, the team introduced new agricultural machinery, expanded rice seed selection and breeding (CY2, CG11, CB1), and reduced fertilization production costs for Ivorian farmland. They also revitalized 3 original rice processing plants and added another new large-scale rice processing plant with 20 employees. In 1995, the Chinese Government and the Government of Cote d'Ivoire launched the Guiguidou farmland water conservancy project, and in May 1997, an agricultural rice technology cooperation project was launched in which Chinese experts work in Guiguidou with Ivorian farmers to promote agriculture — especially rice farming. The MATAC teams from Liaoning International have worked with the Government Cote d'Ivoire's Agency for Rice Development and National Agency for Rural Development in 2-year-long phases (as captured via Record ID#66175, #66160, #70502). Between 1997 and 2013, 7 technical assistance missions were carried out. Each team had a mechanization expert, an agronomy expert, an interpreter, and an accountant and they lived in a ‘city’ in Guiguidou made up of dormitories, offices, experimental laboratories, and a machine repair garage.