The Ivorian government has just launched the construction of a dam in the council of Koro in the northwest of Ivory Coast. The water reservoir on the Yirima River is intended for the development of agriculture in this part of the country.

The council of Koro will soon have a dam for its agricultural water needs. The Ivorian Minister of Budget and State Portfolio, Moussa Sanogo, and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani laid the foundation stone on Saturday, September 5th, 2020, marking the start of construction work on the dam on the Yirima River. The project is implemented by the National Office of Studies and Development (BNETD).

The dam will be 625 m long and 12 m high. The work, which will be completed within a year, will cost 2 billion CFA francs (just over 3 million euros). “The realization of this dam will improve agricultural yields and ultimately, the income distributed to farmers. Its realization is therefore in line with the second phase of actions taken to accelerate the emergence of the Bafing region,” said Minister Moussa Sanogo.

The Koro hydro-agricultural dam is intended to allow the development of at least 100 hectares of land for rice cultivation and market gardening. More importantly, the water reservoir will allow the development of the aquaculture sector through the construction of 25 fish ponds of 400 m3 each. The dam will thus make the Bafing region one of the fish production basins in Ivory Coast.

According to Minister Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, the dam should contribute to food security in the Yirima River basin. The fish produced thanks to the Koro reservoir “will go to Touba, Odienné and therefore it will be a platform from which fish will be distributed”, he made the promise to the people who came to attend the launch of this hydro-agricultural project.