Social and economic opportunities and the development of market crops in Bouaké (Côte d’Ivoire) The rural economy of the Bouaké region has always been dominated by subsistence food production. Agricultural income in this region has been very low compared with that of Baoulé farmers who emigrated at least seasonally to forest areas in the west and southwest of Côte d’Ivoire to work as laborers. For a decade, however, the return of these emigrants to their home village has combined with several factors to orient Baoulé agriculture towards a market economy. Economic opportunities such as the wholesale market in Bouaké, its increasing population, the availability of long-abandoned lowlands as well as development projects have induced some young people, who previously migrated to work as seasonal labor, to develop new economic alternatives: market farming, rice in the lowlands, cashew trees, peanuts, etc. These have turned out to be more remunerative than working as seasonal laborers in the forest areas. Thus, the slowing of migration in the largest portion of the working population has helped to dynamize the economy of thesevillages, which is moving from a subsistence economy to an agricultural market economy.