Keypoints:
- CFA15bn Oussou plant to employ 1,000
- Processing target set at fifty percent by 2030
- Part of wider agro-industrial decentralisation push
WITH national elections looming on Saturday, Côte d’Ivoire has commissioned a major new cashew processing plant in the town of Oussou, about 144 kilometres from Abidjan. The CFA15bn (£26.5 million) facility, launched by Prime Minister Beugré Mambé, is one of the largest in West Africa and is expected to create more than 1,000 direct jobs. Officials hope it will accelerate domestic value addition in a sector now central to the country’s agricultural economy. The launch was reported by local media outlets and confirmed in government communications.
Cashew emerges as a strategic crop
Côte d’Ivoire has risen rapidly to global prominence in the cashew industry, overtaking India in 2016 to become the world’s top producer. The country now accounts for an estimated 5.3 per cent of global output, with raw cashew exports bringing in more than £800 million in 2023. The crop has become Côte d’Ivoire’s most significant non-cocoa export and an essential source of income for rural communities in the northern and central regions.
Addressing the raw export challenge
Despite this strong position, the majority of Ivorian cashews have historically been exported raw to Asian processors in India and Vietnam, where the nuts are shelled, graded and packaged for significantly higher margins. Government officials say this pattern limits job creation at home and allows foreign processors to capture disproportionate value.
In response, authorities have launched an ambitious strategy to lift domestic processing capacity. Processing rates have already grown from 6.2 per cent in 2016 to about 21 per cent in 2023. The target now is to reach fifty per cent by 2030, a goal supported by fiscal incentives, quality control programmes and public investment in industrial zones.
Learning from decades of cocoa industry reforms
The cashew strategy draws inspiration from lessons learned in Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa sector, where state-backed farmer support, regulated farm-gate pricing and export infrastructure development helped the country remain the world’s top cocoa producer. Officials argue that extending similar reforms to cashews will help stabilise incomes, improve product quality and establish Côte d’Ivoire as a major global supplier of processed kernels.
Strengthening cooperatives and offering tax incentives for local processors are central pillars of the plan. Authorities also want to expand training programmes, modernise storage facilities and improve traceability systems to make Ivorian cashew products more competitive internationally.
Regional momentum builds around processing
Côte d’Ivoire is not alone in this shift. Ghana has seen private investment flow into processing facilities in Wenchi and Techiman, although national processing rates remain below 15 per cent, according to industry reports. In Benin, development finance institutions are supporting industrial clusters near Parakou to encourage local transformation of raw nuts. Analysts say the trend reflects a broader West African determination to move up agricultural value chains and reduce vulnerability to commodity price swings.
Economic message ahead of the polls
For the government, the Oussou plant is both an industrial investment and a campaign-season signal. By placing emphasis on decentralised industry and rural job creation, authorities hope to reassure voters that agricultural communities are central to the national economic agenda. The challenge, observers note, will be to sustain investment, attract private capital and ensure that farmers, especially in the north, benefit from rising processing capacity.
