Governance of technology in the Rice value chain in Côte d’Ivoire

In Africa, traditional value chains are made up of small-scale actors using simple technologies and with little coordination for product quality. Numerous policies aimed at supporting collective action by these actors in order to favour their access to technology and remunerative markets. Most of collective action attempts failed, but few of them seem successful, such as in the rice chains in Ivory Coast and Ghana. However, the literature documenting the drivers of technical and organizational innovations, and their impacts on value chain actors and value chain upgrading, is still scarce.

The aim of the Technogouv project is to raise the awareness of policy makers and scientists of technical and organizational innovations implemented by actors in the traditional rice value chains, and their impacts. The specific objectives of the project are 1) Co-learning of the drivers of innovations; 2) Assessing their impacts on farmers and processors’ income; 3) Improving policymakers’ understanding of the potential of innovations to upgrade the rice value chains.

The project will apply an interdisciplinary approach combining the economic and technological analysis of processing and production in the rice value chain in Ivory Coast and Ghana. An innovative theoretical framework will analyse how collective action (Ostrom 2010) led by technological innovation can drive governance towards more balanced forms (Gereffi, Humphrey, and Sturgeon 2005), and increase both rice producers’ and processors’ incomes. Cirad, AfricaRice, Aderiz and INPHB will implement three activities. Activity 1 consists in analysing with value chain actors the drivers of technical and organizational innovations in Ivory Coast and Ghana. Two participatory case studies will be performed in each country using the process tracing method. Activity 2 consists in a quantitative cross-sectional survey of 400 producers and 200 processors in Ivory Coast. The use of quantitative impact evaluation methods will enable correction of selection bias. Activity 3 consists in organizing a world café with policy makers and representatives of value chain actors in both countries, in order to discuss the potential contributions of technical and organizational innovations to upgrade the rice value chains.

The project will contribute to the strategy for rice development in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the Coalition for Rice Development and the CGIARD rice project. The project will also help a PhD student access positions in research and development organizations.