This is what the executive announced on Wednesday 11 March in the Council of Ministers, presenting the new roadmap of its National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS), rescheduled over the period running from 2020 to 2030 (the first NRDS, launched in 2012, aimed at rice self-sufficiency in 2020 with a production of 2 million tonnes, but after a jump from 984,000 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes between 2012 and 2015, Ivorian production has stagnated for several years at 1.3 million tonnes). Objective: rice self-sufficiency by 2025, and the country’s accession to the rank of major African exporter by 2030. To achieve this, the authorities are considering adopting several measures, including high-yield seed production, full mechanization of the rice value chain and irrigated rice cultivation. An investment of 150 billion CFA francs will also be made in the rehabilitation and development of 64 dams and 55,000 hectares of rice-growing land, in order to « gradually switch from traditional, unprofitable subsistence rice cultivation to market-oriented, competitive and environmentally friendly rice cultivation, » according to the government. The strategy aims to help the country reduce its rice imports, which are estimated at 300 billion CFA francs.