Online platform to help Cote d’Ivoire women farmers secure market

Women farmers in Cote d’Ivoire are expected to find easy market access for their produce following the launch of an online platform in the country.

Dubbed Blaatto, the platform which has been developed by UN Women with funding from African Development Bank (AfDB) and Korea Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund is targeting women smallholder farmers and members of women-led agricultural cooperatives in the country’s central region where access to markets is relatively poor.

“The Buy From Women platform will ensure long term results for beneficiaries.” He urged its adoption, saying, “Please take the opportunity to use it and uplift locally produced crops,” said Felix Anoblé, Cote d’Ivoire Minister for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, Handcrafts and Informal Sector Transformation.

As part of the United Nation’s Buy From Women initiative, Blaatto is open-source, cloud-based enterprise and e-commerce platform that can be customized to specific market products. It also offers women information and finance.

“The Buy From Women platform will connect women producers to all categories of buyers of agricultural products: wholesalers, retailers and consumers across Cote d’Ivoire. It is an opportunity for women farmers to sell their products to a large market of buyers,” added Ngabala Sodonon, UN Women’s Country Representative for Cote d’Ivoire.

The platform is also part of a UN Women project in Cote d’Ivoire to strengthen women’s agricultural resilience to climate change and quality of life by incorporating ICT into agricultural production.

“We appreciate the support from the Government of Cote d’Ivoire in various interventions, especially in women’s economic empowerment. For the African Development Bank, UN Women is a strategic partner to implement the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda,” stated Esther Dassanou, Coordinator of the AfDB Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative.

The platform is further backed to help serve as a one-stop shop for producers, buyers, sellers and investors which will then require the women to produce high quality products.