Hon. M Sangafowa-Coulibaly

Minister of Mines, Petrol & Energy Cote d'Ivoire

Mr. Mamadou Coulibaly Sangafowa has held the post of Minister of Agriculture of Côte d'Ivoire since February 2010. His department was expanded to rural development in January 2016 and his exact title is since then, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Côte d’Ivoire. Before becoming a Minister, he was the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Minister of Agriculture from 2003 to 2010 while being the Government Commissioner within the Fonds Interprofessionnel pour la Recherche et le Conseil Agricole (FIRCA - Interprofessional Fund for Agricultural Research and Counselling), Chairman of the Management Committee of Institut National de Formation Agricole (INFPA - the National Institute for Agricultural Training), Director at Centre de Démonstration et de Promotion de Technologie (DDT the Center of Demonstration and Promotion of Technology) and the Fund of Regulation and Control of coffee-cocoa. As Minister in charge of Agriculture, he sets priority goals and ambitions in the sector for the establishment of an efficient and competitive agriculture; a profitable agriculture and able to provide producers with a substantial and sustainable income; developing an agricultural sector mastered by better-trained farmers playing a full role with the State; the organization of the management of the sector; and that is part of a sustainable development. These objectives that are expressed in the National Agricultural Investment Plan implemented since 2012. Before working for the State of Côte d'Ivoire, he created his business in 1992 and he specialized in exporting agricultural products. That experience earned him, among others, the "Prize for the best mango brand" awarded by the Liaison Committee Europe-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific - (COLEACP).

As part of his departmental activities, he is appointed in April 2016, by his peers, President of the 29th FAO Regional Conference for Africa for a two-year term in which he will have to defend African positions in agricultural governance in the highest levels of decision making. The minister has been a member of the Politburo of Rassemblement Des Républicains (R.D.R. Rally of Republicans) since the creation of the party in 1994. He has held several senior positions. These commitments serving his country earned him the recognition of the State which raised him to the rank of Officer in the National Order and Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit. It has just been decorated at the last international fair of agriculture of Paris as Commander in the Order of French Agricultural Merit by his colleague the Minister Stéphane Le Foll, Minister of Agriculture, Agro Industry and Forestry He holds a Master of Science and Techniques from the University of Abidjan and he also completed graduate studies in Accounting and Financial Techniques at Institut National Supérieur de l’Enseignement Technique de Yamoussoukro (I.N.S.E.T the Higher National Institute of Vocational Education of Yamoussoukro).