Presidential candidate Dr. Ahoua Don Mello, running in the October 25, 2025 election, is proposing a bold agricultural reform to transform farmers into entrepreneurs, according to his advisor Kouakou Dapa Donacien, former regional coordinator of the African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI) in the Gontougo region.

In an interview with the Ivorian News Agency (AIP), Kouakou recalled that the former Director General of the National Bureau of Technical Studies and Development (BNETD) approaches agricultural issues with a pragmatic and structured perspective, drawing on his experience within the institution, which housed a department dedicated to agriculture.

Currently serving as Vice President of the International BRICS Alliance—which brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and several African partner countries—Don Mello seeks to place agriculture at the heart of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic sovereignty. According to Kouakou Dapa Donacien, the candidate believes that “economic sovereignty begins with food sovereignty,” and that farmers must now become “masters of production, processing, and marketing of their products.”

The independent candidate advocates for an agricultural development model centered on local processing of raw materials, breaking away from the country’s dependency on unprocessed exports. His vision includes organizing producers into subsidized cooperatives that would own and manage the infrastructure for processing and marketing agricultural goods.

“If the French winemaker is at once a producer, processor, and brand owner of what he exports, then our cooperatives—especially those involved in cashew nut production in Bondoukou—should be able to follow that example,” Kouakou Dapa explained.

This vertically integrated approach, he said, would help create more local value and ensure a fairer distribution of income. “Controlling the entire value chain will give farmers a form of mini economic sovereignty at their level,” he added.

In the Zanzan region, Don Mello’s vision is already gaining traction. A certified cooperative, the Union of Ambitious Women’s Cooperatives of Bondoukou (UNION-CFAM), has been established to support women’s participation in transforming the local agricultural economy.

Inspired by Don Mello’s philosophy, this initiative aims to make rural women key players in production, processing, and agricultural entrepreneurship.

Alassane Ouattara, Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, Jean-Louis Billon, Henriette Lagou, and Ahoua Don Mello are among the candidates vying for the presidency in Côte d’Ivoire’s October 25, 2025 election.