Ambitious cotton plans in Benin
Benin is preparing to send the export earnings and job creation capacity of its cotton industry soaring.
The west African country achieved a record cotton crop in 2021, with more than 730,000 tonnes of fibre, the largest volume of any African country. Most of the fibre, though, went for processing in Bangladesh.
The authorities estimate that Benin can earn between $400 million and $500 million per year from exporting this raw material. This is an important amount and cotton generates around 40% of rural employment in Benin. But the government has said it wants to add more value to the fibre on home soil.
Estimates are that, currently, only 1% of Benin’s crop is processed domestically. An industrial zone at Glo-Djigbé, 150 kilometres from the port city of Cotonou, is set to change this.
Within seven years, Benin hopes to have more than 30 vertically integrated textile factories at the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone and to process its entire national cotton crop there.
The government projects that it can create around 160,000 jobs through this and boost its earnings from cotton to a figure of more than $11.5 billion per year.
Image: BBC.
