Abstract

Improving agribusiness with GIS in Western Africa to sustain development
Track: Agriculture
Authors: Stéphane Kouadio MIAN, Solange KOME epouse KOUABENA AKOUA BIN

SIFCA, a major private enterprise in Ivory Coast with 28,000 employees, owns and operates several industrial plantations in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria. To improve its operations ranging from selecting new areas to improving harvesting and milling, SIFCA implemented a modern information system. The geospatial part is provided by Comafrique Technologies (CT), a subsidiary of SIFCA Group, based in Abidjan.
CT has implemented geospatial systems for SIFCA plantations: agriculture GIS implementation and fleet tracking. They provide knowledge of plantations areas delineation, spatial representation and mapping of business data stored in SAP, optimizing plantations blocks selection, and control/follow up of field vehicles whereabouts.
Besides the direct benefit for plantations operation, agriculture GIS database help managers to better understand social and environmental framework around plantations locations. It also provides inputs for country sustainable development, namely, location and characteristics of local farm producers, social infrastructures (school, health centres) and degradation of tracks/roads.