Social Protection: Government Launches the PIPS Program to Strengthen Social Coverage for Agricultural Producers and Informal Workers

Prime Minister Robert Beugré Mambé presided this Tuesday, December 2, 2025, in Abidjan-Plateau, over the official launch of the Social Protection Investment Program for the Agricultural and Informal Sectors (PIPS). This initiative aims to extend and reinforce social coverage for agricultural producers and workers operating in the informal economy.

The event was held in the presence of the Minister of State and Minister of Agriculture, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, the Minister of Employment and Social Protection, Adama Kamara, as well as the FAO Subregional Coordinator for West Africa and Acting Representative, Bintia Stephen Tchicaya, along with professional organizations and civil society representatives.

In his address, the Prime Minister hailed a major milestone in the government’s social agenda.
“This moment marks not only a concrete and tangible step forward in our social agenda, but also the living expression of a shared vision for an inclusive, resilient Côte d’Ivoire, firmly rooted in the values of solidarity that unite us,” he stated.

Robert Beugré Mambé expressed the government’s gratitude to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), whose technical and financial support was instrumental in developing the program—considered a first of its kind in Africa and the subregion.
He also invited technical and financial partners to support the deployment of the PIPS, reaffirming Côte d’Ivoire’s commitment to strengthened cooperation aimed at transforming structural vulnerabilities into shared opportunities for progress.

According to Minister Adama Kamara, the PIPS will bring deep and visible transformations. Implemented across the country’s nine agropoles, it will contribute to the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs, the empowerment of tens of thousands of women, increased public revenues, and the reduction of vulnerabilities in rural areas.
It will also enable millions of agricultural and informal workers to fully integrate the Universal Health Coverage (CMU) and the Social Scheme for Independent Workers (RSTI), marking an unprecedented step forward in the development of Côte d’Ivoire’s social protection system.

“The PIPS is proof that our country refuses to leave in the shadows the millions of actors essential to our development. It reflects a strong political will: to make social protection a real, effective right for workers in the agricultural and informal sectors,” the minister asserted.

Designed in alignment with the National Social Protection Strategy, the 2021–2025 National Development Plan (PND), and the government’s priorities for agricultural transformation, the program aims to mobilize 7,000 agricultural and artisanal cooperatives as a driving force for social formalization.