Industrial and export agriculture

Industrial and export agriculture plays an important role in the Ivorian economy, with an estimated contribution of 9.5% in 2022.

The Government's overall vision in this area is to promote "A sustainable, competitive Ivorian agriculture that creates wealth equitably shared." In this context, a first National Agricultural Investment Program was implemented during the period 2016 – 2020 (PNIA I), and PNIA II, covering the period 2018 – 2025, is currently being executed.

The development strategy is based on:

• the grouping of different regions of the country into Agro-Poles based on agro-ecological, administrative, social, and economic criteria;
• the promotion of sustainable agriculture.

 

Characterization of Agro-Poles

An Agro-Pole prioritizes crops that require similar climatic conditions. It benefits, within the same area, from government services such as extension services, subsidies, and distribution of inputs.

Nine (9) Agro-Poles have been identified based on these groupings since 2019. The map below illustrates the proposed zoning and the relevant industrial export crops.

 

The Different Agro-Poles

Zones	Relevant industrial and export crops
Agro-Pole 1	Cotton, Cashew, Mango, Banana, Sugarcane
Agro-Pole 2	Cashew
Agro-Pole 3	Coffee, Cocoa, Rubber, Oil Palm
Agro-Pole 4	Coffee, Cocoa, Cashew
Agro-Pole 5	Rubber, Oil Palm, Cocoa
Agro-Pole 6	Cocoa, Cashew
Agro-Pole 7	Rubber, Oil Palm, Cocoa, Coffee
Agro-Pole 8	Cashew, Cotton
Agro-Pole 9	Coffee, Cocoa

Source: MEMINADER

 

The main industrial and export crops are: Coffee, Cocoa, Rubber, Oil Palm, Cotton, Cashew, Banana, Pineapple, Mango, and Sugarcane.

• Cocoa and Coffee

The coffee-cocoa duo represents an essential pillar of the Ivorian economy. Aware of its predominant role in the economy, the Government of Côte d'Ivoire has undertaken a series of reforms, notably the establishment of the Coffee-Cocoa Council (CCC) as the sole regulatory body for the sector.

 

Cocoa

As of the end of 2023, Côte d'Ivoire remains the world's leading producer and exporter of cocoa beans. However, cocoa cultivation is subject to several factors that have limited its growth in 2023.

After surpassing two million tons during the period 2017-2022, thanks to increased yields linked to the introduction of new, more productive varieties and the entry into production of new plantations, production was recorded at 1,822,320 tons in 2023, a decrease of 22.7% compared to the previous year. This is due to unfavorable climatic factors, particularly excessive rainfall in cocoa-growing areas.

 

Furthermore, to promote remunerative farm gate prices, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana have committed to limiting their production since 2021. Thus, Côte d'Ivoire aims to limit its production to two million tons. Consequently, the government has reduced the distribution of seeds and is combating the development of plantations in classified forests.

The quality of production has significantly improved since 2015 thanks to the control and monitoring system put in place, coupled with training in good agricultural practices.

 

Evolution of cocoa bean production (in thousands of tons)

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Production	1826.1	1634.3	2033.5	2112.5	2235.7	2172.7	2228.4	2358.8	1822.3
Variation in %		-10.5	24.4	3.9	5.8	-2.8	2.6	5.9	-22.7
Quantity of cocoa beans processed	527.9	491.5	577.0	ND	604.8	596.4	619.5	636.9	790.8
Variation in %		-6.9	17.4			-1.4	3.9	2.8	24.2
Transformation rate (%)	29	30	28	ND	27	28	28	27	34

Source: CCC

 

Coffee

Coffee production has experienced significant declines from 2015 to 2023 due to poor rainfall distribution during the flowering of coffee trees, insufficient supply of improved seeds, financial difficulties, and aging orchards. Thus, production fell from 94,904 tons in 2022 to 46,902 tons in 2023, a decrease of 50.6%.

 

Evolution of coffee production (in thousands of tons)

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Production (in thousands of tons)	126.1	107.6	32.6	122.6	95.2	82.4	62.2	94.9	46.9
Variation in %		-14.7	-69.7	276.1	-22.3	-13.4	-24.5	52.6	-50.6
Quantity of coffee processed (in thousands of tons)	19.2	12.1	9.8	ND	15	17.7	17	9.5	15.8
Variation in %		-37.0	-19.0			18.0	-4.0	-44.1	66.3
Transformation rate (%)	15	11	29	ND	18	51	28	10	34

Source: CCC

 

• Rubber and Oil Palm

The rubber and oil palm sectors are important areas of Ivorian agriculture. These two products play a significant role in industrial activity as they have the highest transformation rates among the crops in industrial and export agriculture.

The regulation of the rubber and oil palm sectors has been ensured by the Rubber and Oil Palm Council (CHPH) since 2017.

 

Rubber

Côte d'Ivoire is the leading producer of rubber in Africa. From 2015 to 2023, rubber production quadrupled, reaching 1,678,061.8 tons in 2023 compared to 350,309 tons in 2015. It benefits from promotional actions by the Rubber Development Fund (FDH).

The transformation rate of rubber into semi-finished products was 100% until 2015. Since that date, with the production boom, processing capacities have proven insufficient. Thus, the transformation rate has dropped to 80%; this has led to the establishment of operators as buyers and exporters of wet rubber for direct export.

To strengthen processing, the Government decided through ordinance 2019-826 of October 9, 2019, to establish specific tax incentives for investments made in the rubber processing sector.

 

Oil Palm

Palm fruit production has increased by an average of 4.8% annually from 2015 to 2023. It benefits from: (i) the provision of improved seedlings to producers based on a subsidy mechanism; (ii) the establishment of a financing mechanism for fertilizers for palm fruit producers; (iii) funding for basic social infrastructure (schools, boreholes, health centers, etc.).

National production of palm fruit is entirely processed on-site into crude oil by forty-four (44) first transformation units. A second transformation is carried out locally by the four (4) main industries. The products derived from this second transformation are sold on the national market (75%) and on the sub-regional market - UEMOA zone (25%).

Palm oil production has increased by an average of 2.9% annually from 2015 to 2023.

Source: CHPH

 

• Cotton and Cashew

Cotton and cashew occupy an important place in industrial and export agriculture. These two crops are primarily cultivated in the North and Center of the country. However, for cashew, there is significant presence in the East. Cotton is an annual crop that has a very elaborate organizational scheme that allows for better support for producers. The cashew tree contributes to combating desert encroachment in the northern part of the country and has become the main cash crop in this area.

The regulation of both sectors is ensured by the Cotton Cashew Council.

 

Cotton

Cotton seed production has been continuously increasing since the 2015/2016 campaign, with production rising from 310,177 tons to 539,623 tons in 2021/2022, representing an average annual increase of 9.7% over the period. However, in July 2022, attacks by jassids (Amrasca biguttula) were reported in the cotton basin. This resulted in a 56.2% decrease in production for the 2022/2023 campaign, bringing it down to 236,183 tons.

 

Cashew

As for cashew nut production, it has increased by an average of 7.2% annually from 2015 to 2023, reaching 1,225,935 tons in 2023. It has benefited from favorable climatic conditions and good agricultural practices that have improved orchard yields.

 

Source: CCA

• Fruit Crops

Dessert banana is the main fruit crop for export from Côte d'Ivoire. It is followed by mango and pineapple. Côte d'Ivoire is the leading African producer of dessert bananas and the leading African exporter of mangoes.

Between 2015 and 2023, the productions of dessert banana, mango, and pineapple recorded average annual rates of (+6.1%), (+10.7%), and (-8.2%) respectively.

Source : OCAB, OBAM-CI

 

Reference Documents :

• Strategic Guidelines PND 2021-2025, Volume 2
• PNIA II Report, September 2017