Very soon West Africa will have its very first digital agriculture establishment. Called Digital Farming School (DFS), was born from a strategic partnership between the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB), the Moroccan phosphate giant OCP Africa and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P). Thus, a few weeks before a highly anticipated deadline, the INP-HB wanted to reassure its supervisory authority. It is with this in mind that Dr Palé Sié Secretary General of INP-HB and Dr Louis Koko, Director General of the Digital Farming School, presented the progress of the project, closely followed since its signature, to Professor Adama Diawara, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. 

The discussions focused on three specific points, namely the recruitment schedule for future students, the date of the start of the academic year and that of the official inauguration of the establishment based at the Yamoussoukro Technopole. The delegation detailed the system used to select the first cohort of young Ivorians and West Africans aged 18 to 35, before their immersion in a course focused on agritech and rural entrepreneurship. Faced with this progress, Professor Adama Diawara welcomed the maturity of the project, which he considers to be a showcase for Ivorian higher education. Supported since 2022 by an agreement between the Ivorian State and OCP Africa, the DFS must become the second international branch of the UM6P after that of Paris, and the first in sub-Saharan Africa. Backed by a digital farm, it will train students using practical teaching methods, serving the digital transformation of regional agriculture.

The final dates now remain to be set. If the timetable presented to the Minister is confirmed, the Digital Farming School could welcome its first class in the coming months, consolidating Yamoussoukro's position as a reference center for agritech in West Africa.