From Paddy to Prosperity: RIZAO Project Workshop Tackles Youth Unemployment Through Rice Processing in Côte d’Ivoire

Group picture with participants and facilitators. (Credit: AfricaRice) 

22 September 2025, Mbé, Côte d’Ivoire – As part of the implementation of Pillar 3 of the RIZAO Project, funded by the Mastercard Foundation, Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) brought together more than 100 stakeholders in the rice value chain in Côte d'Ivoire (CEOs of small-scale rice mills, CEOs of rice parboiling enterprises, young workers, women, and cooperative leaders) for a workshop aimed at understanding how rice processing companies are organized with regard to the employment of young people, women, and people with disabilities in Côte d'Ivoire. 

Despite official youth unemployment rates of under 4% in Côte d'Ivoire, the African Development Bank reveals that 60-65% of the population faces vulnerable employment or unemployment, with women and persons with disabilities disproportionately affected. The rice processing sector presents a transformative solution to this challenge. With 47% of Africa's rice production lost post-harvest, equivalent to an estimated US$10.25 billion, there is massive potential to create inclusive employment opportunities through effective organization and increase in the operational capacity of milling and parboiling enterprises. 

The workshop addressed critical sector constraints including liquidity shortages, limited capacity of processors, outdated equipment, and poor infrastructure that limit productivity. By providing targeted training, modern technologies like GEM parboilers and two-stage milling machines, plus initial working capital support, Pillar 3 of the project aims to stimulate job creation through rice processing companies for vulnerable groups. The labor-intensive rice processing value chain offers accessible entry points for youth, women, and persons with disabilities across multiple skill levels - from manual processing to equipment operation and quality control. 

"This workshop opened our eyes to new possibilities for inclusive employment in rice processing. The advanced technologies and capacity-building approaches we learned will help us create more opportunities for women, youth, and people with disabilities in our cooperative and we are looking forward to the great perspectives from the project," explained Mrs. Camara Assetou, President, Women's Cooperative, SCOOP-FG. 

The workshop delivered transformative insights into inclusive employment opportunities within the agricultural sector. Featuring expert presentations on rice processing structure, advanced job counting methodologies, and exposure of industry leaders to cutting-edge rice processing technologies, this intensive program combined strategic one-on-one stakeholder discussions with robust data collection processes. Participants engaged in deep-dive analyses of sector-specific needs and innovative solution development, resulting in a complete database of rice processing enterprises with significant inclusive employment potential. The workshop successfully assessed sector capacity for youth employment, women's economic empowerment, and persons with disabilities integration, while identifying key enterprise-specific interventions and developing comprehensive implementation plans. Participants left equipped with proven best practice documentation and a solid foundation for targeted inclusive employment programming, positioning their organizations to drive meaningful changes in agricultural employment and sustainable rice processing initiatives. 

"The RIZAO project is transforming rice value chains across West Africa from supporting seed entrepreneurs, empowering producers, creating employment opportunities, facilitating market access, boosting local rice consumption, to building institutional platforms. We are not just developing businesses, we are creating sustainable employment for young people throughout the rice value chain, turning local entrepreneurs into job creators and driving economic growth from farm to market," added Valere Mel, RIZAO Project Coordinator for Côte d'Ivoire.