Ivory Coast spells out beneficiation plans

Beneficiation, which involves adding value to raw materials or natural resources through processes like refining, processing, and manufacturing, has long been hailed as the key to unlocking the continent's full economic potential.There is no doubt Africa must embrace beneficiation to secure its development. However, delivering on this objective has proven to be a formidable challenge.One country that is intent on changing the narrative and effecting change no matter what is the Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer. Despite providing the world with the necessary product to make its chocolate, the country’s cocoa farmers remain impoverished as the country primarily focuses on growing, harvesting and selling raw cocoa. With most of the revenue generated from the final chocolate products and not cocoa beans, the only way to change this is by processing more domestically.And that is exactly what the country plans to do as it has announced plans to increase the amount of cocoa it processes domestically to around 49% by the end of this year/early 2024. It has further announced its ambition to see all the cocoa it produces domestically processed by 2030. The Ivory Coast currently produces around 2.2 million tonnes of cocoa, of which around 35% is processed in the country and the rest exported.