One of the main problems in water supply in Côte d’Ivoire, as in other African countries, is the lack of sufficient infrastructure for the treatment and potabilization of water for human consumption and for industry and agriculture.
Moreover, it should be noted that, although drinking water is essential for many activities of daily life, water scarcity in Côte d’Ivoire has a particular impact on agriculture.
The impact of water on the economy and the agricultural sector in Côte d’Ivoire
Since 2012, and until the global shock of the pandemic in 2020, the country has positioned itself as one of the strongest economies in Africa, with an average growth rate of 8% per year, thanks to the construction and public investment sectors. The manufacturing sector, exports and services are also consolidating sufficiently to help revive this growth. However, there is a pending issue: improving the capacities of the agricultural sector, which until 2012 had been the main driver of economic growth and poverty reduction.
In fact, Côte d’Ivoire has great agricultural potential in terms of arable land, but its productivity is affected, among other factors, by the lack of water control. This is gradually being resolved thanks to the implementation of new irrigation techniques, such as the equipment of inland valley bottoms and drip irrigation for vegetable production. In fact, the country’s government considers irrigation as one of the priorities in the agricultural sector, as crops such as coffee and cocoa remain key to the economy.
Ongoing projects for access to and treatment of drinking water
In addition to the impact of water on agriculture and the economy, and thus on poverty eradication, there is another front to tackle: improving water – both in terms of access and drinking water treatment – and sanitation and hygiene infrastructures.
For many years now, the public-private partnership for public water services in Côte d’Ivoire has been one of the oldest in the world, in operation since 1960. Since the 1990s, it has made great progress in expanding access to drinking water in both rural regions and increasingly populated urban areas.
In 2019, the country received $150 million to improve water supply and sanitation services in 12 secondary cities, which, according to Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Côte d’Ivoire, is helping the country not only to improve its water supply and sanitation services for the most impoverished population, but to create an enabling environment for private financing, thanks to the strengthening of the performance of water services in urban areas.
Thus, there is still ample room for improvement, with part of the population still without access or with insufficient access to safe water for consumption or hygiene. Are electrolysis plants and private financing the next step for the water treatment sector in Côte d’Ivoire?
