Despite the natural geographical advantage of Ivory Coast, the irrigation systems invested by the French government over the Niger Valley had boosted the production of cash-corps as well. The irrigation concept of building dams and systems of irrigation canals was first brought up in Niger Valley in 1918 when cotton was in high demand after WWII. A consortium was convinced that investing in the irrigation system could help turn Western Sudan into a vast cotton plantation and sufficient lower-price cotton products could be imported into France.