Agriculture is the pillar of the Ivorian economy: over 21% of GDP, over half of employment and over 75% of export earnings. Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest cacao producer and Africa’s largest exporter of raw cashew nuts (RCN), rubber, palm oil, bananas and pineapples. Rainfed farming faces falling rainfall, higher temperatures, floods and shorter rainy seasons with late starts and early withdrawal.
Cashew production began in 1959–1960, when trees were planted to curb soil erosion and protect ecosystems damaged by deforestation and bush fires. Cashew is now grown in 46 countries and made up 17% of world tree nut production in 2019/20, third after almonds and walnuts.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Global RCN trade, 2009 → 2018 | 872 million kg → 2.1 billion kg |
| Africa share of RCN production / processed (2018) | 52% / 7.1% |
| Asia share of RCN production / processed (2018) | 42.7% / 87.5% |
| Côte d’Ivoire harvest | 850,000 t (2019); record 1 million t (2020) |
| Processed domestically (2020) | Less than 10% |
| Domestic processing capacity (2024) | About 350,000 t; 18,000+ jobs (World Bank) |
In June 2026 Côte d’Ivoire inaugurated a facility designed to process about 20,000 t of cashew shell residues a year into biochar and related products. This independent initiative shows the commercial case for shell valorisation.