The AFCOTT company, a subsidiary of the Kewalram Chanrai group, opened Monday January 8, 2024 in Loukoukro (Yamoussoukro), a cashew nut processing factory in the presence of the Minister of State, Minister Ivorian Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Food Production, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani. The new factory has an initial capacity of around 20,000 tonnes per year and, according to its purchasing manager, Fadiga Youssouf, plans to reach 50,000 tonnes by 2027. Regarding cashew kernel production forecasts, he revealed that the factory will start with 4,000 tonnes in 2024 and reach 11,000 tonnes in 2027 with the ambition of having "a substantial impact on the market, both at the level national and international. “Our operations are a model of emancipation and development. Employing 1,250 people, mainly 80% women, we are an example of gender inclusiveness and economic growth,” he boasted. For the Director General of the Cotton and Cashew Council, Doctor Adama Coulibaly, the inaugurated infrastructure is the concrete expression of confidence in the authorities of Côte d'Ivoire and the players in the cashew sector. “With all the ambition that we have through the development of agro-industrial zones I can tell you that the objective that the government has assigned to the Cotton and Cashew Council, namely transforming 50% of our production of by 2030, will be achieved,” he promised. Minister of State Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani stressed that the inauguration of the Loukoukro factory is part of this dynamic of quickly reaching the level of transformation of 50% of agricultural products desired and driven by President Alassane Ouattara. The annual production of raw cashew nuts has doubled in a decade in Ivory Coast, going from 400,000 t in 2011 to 1,028,172 t in 2022. “Today cashew represents the second largest agricultural export product both in volume than in value behind cocoa. It is a sector which alone contributes around 8 to 9% of Côte d'Ivoire's GDP,” underlined Mr. Adjoumani.