In recent years Benin has become the leading cotton producing country in Africa with a harvest of over 728000 tons. Until now it has been exporting all raw cotton, mainly to Bangladesh.
But as it happens in all cotton producing developing economies a realization is developing in Benin as well to convert cotton to value added products. It is now in the process of developing a home-grown textile industry. A state sponsored initiative is under way to create jobs and revenue by processing the cotton locally. The aim is to export apparel to the consumer markets in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States.
An industrial zone named Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone (GDIZ) has been established about 45 km from Cotonou. The government has made up its mind to gradually stop exporting cotton and instead convert it into value added products. It is installing integrated textile factories in GDIZ.
The work on GDIZ started two years ago as the result of a partnership between the government and Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP), a pan-African venture partly owned by the Africa Finance Corporation. Over $1 billion has been invested in the zone which will not only have textile factories but other industries as well like cashew processing units and pharmaceutical units. Only a quarter of it has been developed so far.
