AFP, Bakou :
The sleepy town of Bohicon in southern-central Benin roars into life during the cotton harvest between January and March.
Enormous trucks piled high with “white gold” trundle down the roads to the town’s cotton-processing plant.
Yerima Fousseni, head of the cotton-growers cooperative in Wewe district farther north, says 2018 has been a bumper harvest-more than 46 tonnes, triple last year’s yield.
“We now have 32 farmers in the village-before, there were only 10 of us. Everyone has been able to see that there’s money to be made out of this.”
That Benin’s cotton sector is booming is clear. The country is the fourth biggest producer in Africa, with exports in 2018 set to reach more than 530,000 tonnes after 451,000 tonnes in 2017 and 324,000 tonnes in 2016.
Everyone has benefitted from the boost but some more than others-and many are wondering why.
Some say the downstream part of the industry is in the hands of a de facto monopoly, dominated by companies historically linked to Benin’s president, Patrice Talon.
Talon made a fortune in the cotton industry before coming to power in 2016 on a campaign promise to revive it.
Once in office, he vowed that he would part with his own interests in the sector.
But the degree to which Talon has kept this promise remains unclear, exposing him to accusations of conflict of interest.
Sodeco and ICA, two companies in which he has historically been the major shareholder, manage or own virtually all of Benin’s cotton ginners-factories.
The sleepy town of Bohicon in southern-central Benin roars into life during the cotton harvest between January and March.
Enormous trucks piled high with “white gold” trundle down the roads to the town’s cotton-processing plant.
Yerima Fousseni, head of the cotton-growers cooperative in Wewe district farther north, says 2018 has been a bumper harvest-more than 46 tonnes, triple last year’s yield.
“We now have 32 farmers in the village-before, there were only 10 of us. Everyone has been able to see that there’s money to be made out of this.”
That Benin’s cotton sector is booming is clear. The country is the fourth biggest producer in Africa, with exports in 2018 set to reach more than 530,000 tonnes after 451,000 tonnes in 2017 and 324,000 tonnes in 2016.
Everyone has benefitted from the boost but some more than others-and many are wondering why.
Some say the downstream part of the industry is in the hands of a de facto monopoly, dominated by companies historically linked to Benin’s president, Patrice Talon.
Talon made a fortune in the cotton industry before coming to power in 2016 on a campaign promise to revive it.
Once in office, he vowed that he would part with his own interests in the sector.
But the degree to which Talon has kept this promise remains unclear, exposing him to accusations of conflict of interest.
Sodeco and ICA, two companies in which he has historically been the major shareholder, manage or own virtually all of Benin’s cotton ginners-factories.
