In San Pedro, cocoa is no longer content to travel in bags to the ports of the world, it will now be transformed on site, under the leadership of those who cultivate it. Called “CocoaTech Côte d’Ivoire”, the project mobilizes a budget of 9.84 billion CFA francs, or around 15 million euros. Located on 5 hectares, the industrial unit will be delivered within 24 months and will have an initial processing capacity of 15,000 tonnes of beans per year, expandable to 30,000 tonnes once the pilot phase is consolidated.

The ceremony took place as part of the “Netherlands Day in San-Pedro », the project being supported by the Orange Cocoa Pro program of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, Olivier Daipo, welcomed an initiative which "marks a new stage in the implementation of the national industrialization strategy supported by the Government". The factory will be 100% supplied by the CADESA cooperative, guaranteeing an integrated and traceable value chain, from the production of the beans to their processing. The result will be 110 direct jobs and 250 indirect jobs, with expected opportunities for young people and women. This initiative is part of the national objective of transforming 50% of Ivorian cocoa production by 2030, as part of the National Development Plan 2026-2030. 

Thus, by becoming shareholders of their industrial tool themselves, Ivorian cooperatives are breaking with a model where processing remained the prerogative of multinationals, and aim to capture a larger share of added value estimated at nearly 80% for grinding alone.