New Digital Platform Empowers Women Farmer In Cote d’Ivoire

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Things are looking up for women farmers in Women Farmers in Cote d’Ivoire as the newly launched digital platform in the West African nation, is aimed at helping them gain more access to the markets.

The platform is part of a United Nations (UN) Women project in Cote d’Ivoire to strengthen women’s agricultural resilience to climate change and quality of life by incorporating Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) into agricultural production.

The initiative which was inaugurated recently by United Nations (UN) Women UN Women with the support of African Development Bank (AfDB) and with funding from the Bank-managed Korea Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund.

Christened Blaatto. which means ‘come and buy’ in the region’s Baule language, the platform is targeting women smallholder farmers and members of women-led agricultural cooperatives in the country’s central region where access to markets is relatively poor

The UN agency’s Buy From Women initiative is an open-source, cloud-based enterprise and e-commerce platform that can be customized to specific market products. It also offers women information and finance.

Blaatto launched during a ceremony held on 25 March 2022 in Abidjan, attended by Mr. Felix Anoblé, Minister for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, Handcrafts and Informal Sector Transformation of Cote d’Ivoire.

Mrs. Antonia Ngabala Sodonon, UN Women’s country representative for Cote d’Ivoire and Ms Esther Dassanou, Coordinator of the African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative also participated.

An agreement for the management of Buy From Women initiative was signed by the minister and the UN Women’s country representative for Cote d’Ivoire before an audience of government representatives, development partners and women farmers.

Anoblé said the Buy From Women platform will ensure long term results for beneficiaries. He therefore urged its adoption, saying, “Please take the opportunity to use it and uplift locally produced crops”.

Similarly, Sodonon noted that the platform will connect women producers to all categories of buyers of agricultural products: wholesalers, retailers and consumers across Cote d’Ivoire. It is an opportunity for women farmers to sell their products to a large market of buyers.

Also in her remarks, Dassanou said the AfDB appreciates the support from the Government of Cote d’Ivoire in various interventions, especially in women’s economic empowerment, adding that the UN Women is a strategic partner of the Bank in the implementation of its gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda.

“This platform will serve as a one-stop shop for producers, buyers, sellers and investors. Not only will it help women farmers gain access to markets but will also elevate their expertise and improve the quality of their farming products”, she stressed.