Agriculture in Côte d'Ivoire
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ABIDJAN, 2017/04/19
Côte d’Ivoire‘s agricultural sector is key to its economy and following recent increase, international investment is presently being sought to power further development
Agriculture has become a mainstay of Côte d’Ivoire’s economy contributing nearly a quarter to its GDP, but a revamped strategy looks set to ramp that up further over the coming years.
The agricultural sector, which is dominated by products such as cocoa, coffee, cashew nuts and cotton, accounts for at least 50% of the West African country’s exports and is estimated to support between 60-70% of jobs in the country.
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ABIDJAN, 2015/08/27
Twelve-year-old Arouna* stands shirtless in a cocoa field in southwestern Côte d'Ivoire holding a hoe, his ribs clearly visible under his dark skin.
"I have to get up very early each day to be the initial in the field with my younger brother, aged 10, to start clearing [the land]," he told IRIN. "I'm so tired."
Arouna, who was born across the border in neighbouring Burkina Faso, was sent to Côte d'Ivoire's Sassandra village eight months ago to join his father and his father's second wife, who needed help - in the form of free labour - cultivating cocoa.
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BENIN, 2015/07/23
Fears are growing that without timely intervention to stem outbreaks of the highly virulent avian flu virus H5N1 across West Africa, further spread across the region and beyond is inevitable, FAO said today.
To this end, the agency is calling for $20 million for prevention and response activities.
The call follows outbreaks of the virus in poultry farms, markets and family holdings in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
The outbreak comes as nations across West Africa are still recovering from, and in some cases still battling, Ebola. Avian flu could trigger a mass die-off of chicken – a nutritious and inexpensive source of food for a lot of people– with detrimental impacts on diets and on the economy of the region, exacerbating an by presently difficult situation.
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ABIDJAN, 2014/08/11
The Ivorian government has revised taxes on natural rubber in a bid to fasten equitable gain for local producers and promote development of the industry following volatility of world market prices, according to an official source here.
Government spokesman Bruno Koné Nabagné said that the council of ministers decided Wednesday to level the tax on specified granulated rubber, which factories pay on turnover, based on international prices.
The new taxes range between 1,000 FCFA and 1,300 FCFA per kg of natural rubber, while world market prices,until 2011, fluctuated between 783 and 2,178 FCFA.
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CôTE D'IVOIRE, 2014/03/04
The world’s top producer of cocoa beans, Côte d’Ivoire, is set to benefit from an anticipated mismatch between expected request for the chocolate ingredient and available supply. Commodity traders estimate that the market is heading for a deficit in the next four years, as growing consumption of chocolates and confectionery outpaces production.
Cocoa prices rose to a two-year peak in November 2013 and remained high heading into 2014. Côte d’Ivoire has seen a strong start to the current growing season, and increased export revenue should help to boost this key sector ad benefit small-scale farmers.
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ABIDJAN, 2013/10/11
Cashew production in Côte d’Ivoire has grown steadily over the completed decade, making the West African republic the world’s second-major exporter of the nut. Nonetheless, challenges inclunding opportunities remain in the sector, inclunding continuing efforts to contain smuggling, raise quality levels and boost domestic processing.
The Cotton and Cashew Regulatory Authority (Autorite de Regulation du Coton et de l'Anacarde, ARECA) estimates the cashew crop will reach 480,000 tonnes in 2013, a record and an increase of 50,000 tonnes over 2012. Last October, RONGEAD, a French-based trade NGO, predicted that output would continue to climb up to 2020, peaking at around 500,000 to 550,000 tonnes, thanks to investments in new plantings between 1995 and 2002.
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ABIDJAN, 2013/08/13
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 1,399,000 tonnes by August 11 since the start of the season in October, exporters estimated on Monday, up from 1,324,000 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
Exporters estimated around 7,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African national's two ports of Abidjan and San Pedro between August 5 and 11, down from 9,000 tonnes in the same week last year.
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BOTSWANA, 2013/04/02
Africa frequently experiences food shortages, although its 900 million farmers could feed the continent, inclunding supplying other parts of the world. But for this to happen they need the support of politicians.
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ABIDJAN, 2012/12/31
Civil strife hampered agricultural production
Harvesting of the 2011 second season maize crop was completed in January 2012 in the South. In the North, which has only one rainy season, harvesting of coarse grains was completed in December. In spite of adequate rains during the cropping season, last year’s political crisis resulted in lower cereal output. Official final estimates indicate that cereal production declined by 7 percent in 2011, over previous year’s level of 1.55 million tonnes, to about 1.44 million tonnes.
