The Agricultural Economy of the Ivory Coast

Excerpts from the report Summary: Over 90 percent of the Ivory Coast population of about 3,400,000 is engaged in agriculture (including livestock raising) and forestry. In 1961, exports of chief farm products made up 75 percent of all exports. Considerable wood and wood products are exported. There is some manufacturing. Mining is of minor importance. For a relatively small country, the Ivory Coast has considerable diversity of agricultural production. Coffee exports furnish about 43 percent of the country's exports of all commodities, and cocoa exports nearly 21 percent. Other agricultural exports include bananas, kola nuts, pineapples, palm kernels, and fruit juices. The country's small cotton production is all spun and woven within the country. Chief domestic food crops include yams, plantains, cassava, rice, corn, and cocoyams. Coffee is the Ivory Coast's most valuable commodity, and also its biggest economic problem. Solving the problem of coffee surpluses is the major concern of the Government and its advisors. They also seek to diversify agriculture by increasing production of such commodities as rubber and cotton. They also wish to make the country more nearly self-sufficient in food by producing more rice and palm oil.