Ivory Coast, the world’s third-largest producer of natural rubber, is taking major steps to promote sustainable, deforestation-free cultivation, supporting the livelihoods of more than one million people dependent on the sector.
The African Rubber Plantation Company (SAPH), in partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves (OIPR), has concluded the “Sustainable Rubber for Communities” project in the Mé region, particularly in the villages of Mopodji and Kossandji.
Launched in August 2023, the initiative officially closed on September 18, 2025, at a workshop held at the SIFCA Group headquarters in Abidjan.
Lieutenant Yves-Eric Yapo, head of the Geographic and Ecological Information System at OIPR, outlined the project’s achievements, noting that two village savings and credit associations were established and 120 residents—including 60 women and 60 rubber producers—received training in community engagement, entrepreneurship, leadership, and financial literacy.
Two women’s associations were formalized and submitted to local authorities, while a strategy for marketing rubber cup residues involved 59 new producers. “The project helped us a lot because it brought us money,” said Ms. Atsé Jeannette, president of a women’s association. “We are now growing chili peppers, vegetables, and raising pigs. This has allowed the women of the village to support their families, send their children to school, and also preserve the forest.”
Thierry Serres, Director General of SAPH, emphasized the project’s broader impact: “This Mé project will serve as a textbook case. The rubber grown in Côte d’Ivoire will be deforestation-free, inclusive rubber that gives women and communities their place. The project aims to change the living conditions of rubber producers and inspire all stakeholders in forest preservation.”
Rubber cultivation, which sequesters carbon and stabilizes rural incomes, aligns with the government’s Forest Preservation, Rehabilitation and Expansion Policy, aiming to restore 6.4 million hectares of forest by 2030. Concrete outcomes include stronger protection of the Mabi-Yaya Nature Reserve, formal commitments by millers not to purchase rubber from the reserve, and new economic opportunities for local communities.
Ms. Danja Bergmann, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the German Embassy, stressed the importance of local involvement: “The protection of nature reserves cannot succeed without the involvement of local communities. By supporting their economic and social initiatives, we are jointly creating the conditions for sustainable forest management.”
SAPH produced 281,000 tonnes of natural rubber in 2024, representing 70% of the group’s output, underscoring Ivory Coast’s leading role in environmentally responsible rubber production in West Africa.
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