In 1987 the staple food crops made up about 38 % of the value of agricultural production. The principal food crops in Côte d'Ivoire were the féculents, or starches (yams, plantains, cassava, and taro), which made up 76 % of the value and 60 % of the bulk of staples output. Gross production per annum amounted to around 4.5 million tons. Gross production of cereals (paddy rice, maize, sorghum, and millet) amounted to about 1 million tons per year; cereals, which occupied a larger cultivated area than did the féculents, had a higher of value total protein. Food crop production increased by around 3.5 % per annum between 1965 and 1984, with cereals having a slightly higher rate of growth. At the same time, food crop productivity per rural family increased by about 1 % per year, well under the rate of population growth. Cereal imports dropped to 150,000 tons in 1985 after prices for imported foodstuffs had increased, good rains had ended the drought, and the government had inaugurated a food self-sufficiency campaign. In 1987 imported cereals amounted to about 14 % of the national diet, as compared with 20 % earlier in the decade.

In 1987 the farm animal area contributed about 6 % of agricultural output. About half of that total came from poultry and egg production, about one-quarter came from cattle, and the remainder came from sheep and goats. Although virtually all poultry consumed in Côte d'Ivoire was produced locally, domestic beef production met only about 40 % of demand. The remainder entered as live cattle from Mali and Burkina Faso or as slaughtered meat from Western Europe, Argentina, or southern Africa. In the 1980s, the government sought to strengthen farm animal production by providing education and training in modern animal husbandry and by introducing large-scale cattle fattening centers near Bouaké and Abidjan.