AfDB report: Cocoa represents 15 pct GDP, over 50 pct Côte d’Ivoire’s exports

A new report released by the African Development Bank on Friday in Abidjan reveals that cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire represents 15 percent of gross domestic product and over 50 percent of the country’s exports.

The African Development Bank’s report said that “accounting for over 50 percent of GDP from exports, cocoa is the main commercial product of Côte d'Ivoire. This product represents 15 percent of the country's GDP and provides employment for 7 million Ivorians.”

The report also shows that agricultural production has augmented in recent years and the credit goes to the increase in production volumes of cocoa and export of other crops like pineapple, rubber and cashew.

Côte d’Ivoire is currently the third economy of West Africa behind Nigeria and Ghana. The country’s economy is well diverse. Recently, the President of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara said that being the planet’s leading cocoa production, the country intends to produce 1 million tonnes from the current 600,000 tonnes.

“We are the first cocoa producing country and for this campaign we hope to be over 2 million tonnes and we are barely processing 600,000 tonnes, this is not normal, I know that the objective is to try to go up to 1 million tonnes and I encourage you,” Alassane Ouattara said.

For the purpose of achieving the target of such large volume, the Ivorian State has decided to ‘give derogations to industrialists who are ready to invest in Côte d'Ivoire for the processing of cocoa but also cashew nuts whose transformation rate is less than 10 percent’.