<p>A Workshop on the restitution of studies carried out on the problem of financial inclusion of small farmers and agricultural finance support instruments, initiated by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), represented by Corinne Riquet-Bamba And in partnership with the World Bank and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, opened Tuesday in Abidjan. This Workshop shows that access to financial services for agricultural producers and SMEs remains limited despite the fact that Agriculture occupies an important place in the Ivorian economy, employing 66% of the active population and contributing 22% To the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It also generates 55% of export earnings.</p> <p>According to the results of this study carried out by the CGAP in 2016, which concerned 3019 households throughout the national territory, only 29% of small farmers have an account on their behalf with a formal financial services provider . When only 27% of these small operators have a mobile money account and 5% account in a bank and also 5% in a microfinance institution or in the post office. Three main constraints to access to agricultural finance were identified during the diagnosis, says Rachel Sberro-Kseller, World Bank Financial Specialist: The risks associated with agricultural finance are high and can not be managed through Property guarantees; Some microfinance institutions are not viable and the margins associated with agricultural finance are too low; Most agricultural cooperatives have management and governance problems and little information is available on these cooperatives and their producers. The study recommends that the Government of Côte d'Ivoire strengthen its mechanism through the development of a comprehensive action plan to support agricultural finance.</p> <p>To address the challenge of financial inclusion of small-scale farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, Corinne Riquet-Bamba, Regional Representative of CGAP, points out that positive indicators of readiness for use of the digital channel exist among Families of small-scale farmers in Côte d'Ivoire. In addition to having wide access to mobile phones (86%), many have an acceptable form of identification to open an account, and know how to send an SMS. 27% already have a mobile money account. Mobile money services thus have the potential to promote increased financial inclusion with better infrastructure, increased access to information and the need to design and develop a set of products to meet the needs of these operators.</p> <p>Edmond Coulibaly, Technical Advisor to the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Adama Koné, said that the Government has put in place a set of mechanisms to allow small farmers access to credit. However, it notes that greater action needs to be taken to ensure effective access to credit for smallholders. The national survey carried out by CGAP was conducted by InterMédia with the support of the National Institute of Statistics of Côte d'Ivoire for the determination of the sample.The support of the World Bank for this diagnosis and action plan for agricultural financing is part of the Support to the Financial Inclusion Program (FISF).</p>