COTTON, CASHEWS, TIMBER: MAINSTAYS OF THE ECONOMY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000925 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR FLISER, CHAMILTON DEPARTMENT PASS TO ITC F.YINUG COMMERCE FOR M.RIVERO DAKAR FOR FCS S.MORRISON, FAS R.HANSEN ACCRA FOR G.HUNT USAID/WARP FOR KMCCOWAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAGR PGOV EAID ETRD SENV IV SUBJECT: COTTON, CASHEWS, TIMBER: MAINSTAYS OF THE ECONOMY IN FORCES NOUVELLES-HELD NORTH AND VOLATILE WEST REGIONS REF: A. ABIDJAN 895 ¶B. ABIDJAN 880 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Cotton, cashews and forest products are the mainstays of the economy in the North and West, but each sector is experiencing varying levels of difficulty. Cotton production is down by 40 percent since the division of the country in 2002, and both producers and ginning enterprises have been hit hard by complex, overlapping problems. Cashew production is the highest in Africa, but value-added production is paltry and farmers suffer from very depressed raw nut prices. Timber production in the West is currently strong, but is threatened in the medium and long term by the same ethnic struggles that make that region a troubling tinderbox for the nation's political situation (reftel A). Efforts to reactivate economic activity in the areas where combatants will be demobilized will be complicated by the weaknesses in these key sectors. End Summary ¶2. (SBU) Charge Vicki Huddleston and a small team of Emboffs, including Econoff Massinga, traveled through the Central, Central-North, North-West and West-Central parts of Cote d'Ivoire August 16-21 (reftels),engaging interlocutors on development and political questions. These regions, particularly the North, have been largely isolated from the larger world economy since the division of the country in August 2002, but the Embassy team was able to discuss the state of affairs affecting rural agricultural producers. The World Bank estimates that perhaps 9 million Ivoirans are dependent on cotton and cocoa, roughly half the population. In the North, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the largest union of cotton cooperatives in the country, over 1 million people are directly involved in cotton farming and the industry supports many more. ¶3. (SBU) Cote d'Ivoire is now the largest producer of cashews in Africa, producing over 200,000 tons annually, with the capacity to produce over 400,000. That industry employs tens of thousands of farmers, supporting many rural families. The forest products industry is also a top economic producer, employing 50,000 nationwide and is especially important in the Western region. These industries, along with mango and sugar production (septels) form the backbone of the North's economy. While not as dynamic and remumerative as oil/gas and cocoa, they are vital to their respective regions. -------------- Cotton -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Embassy team met with Benoit Soro, head of the Korhogo-region NGO ARK, a group dedicated to aiding rural communities and farmers. Soro reported that because the rains are arriving late, farmers (most of whom have several crops, both staples and cash crops, most typically cotton) are approximately 4 weeks behind schedule in planting staples rice and corn. This will probably prolong the period of food insecurity between the next harvest and the time when stored stocks of grain are exhausted from the typical three months to a more dangerous four (June-Sept). Soro turned to cotton, noting that while the Ministry of Agriculture (whose current Minister is a member of the northern-based opposition RDR party of Alassane Ouattara) is attempting to revive the slumping sector (production is down over 40 percent since the pre-2002 period to 267,000 tons in 2005-2006) the 2006-2007 harvest is expected to drop further. ¶5. (SBU) The Agriculture Ministry is providing USD 18 million to clear debts to farmers (much if not all of this financing is provided by the Islamic Development Bank, according to Soro),which is in addition to the Euro 25 million provided by the EU through a program that began in November 2006. Under the terms of the assistance, the funds are to be used to clear the debts of cotton ginning enterprises, which are deeply in debt to farmers and whose threat is causing considerable threat to the overall health of the industry. According to numerous press reports, ARK's Soro as well as Korhogo's mayor and other regional elected officials, the region's cotton industry has weakened substantially since the outbreak of hostilities in 2002. Despite generally firmer world prices for cotton since 2001, ABIDJAN 00000925 002 OF 003 production continues to fall. Soro and other knowledgeable observers explain that cotton ginning firms fell into debt in 2002 when substantial cotton stocks were burned during the opening act of hostilities (most notably at URECOS-CI, whose management told Emboff during a previous Korhogo trip that it remains deeply suspicious that allies of the President's camp took advantage of the chaos 2002 to settle scores with an organization it deemed to have close ties with the opposition RDR). Since then, the gins, which typically lend to farmers so the latter can purchase fertilizer and other inputs, thus enabling the gins to recoup the loaned amount when cotton is ginned and sold, have been unable to keep current with their suppliers of raw material. LCCI, a large Malian-owned ginning concern, has closed down altogether and the status of its debts to farmers is not entirely clear. ¶6. (SBU) Dossongiu Diabete, the head of a small cooperative of farmers and ginners (SICOSA),was publicly quotd recently to say that of approximately 300,000 ons of cotton produced in the 2005-2006 growing eason, perhaps only 82,000 were delivered to Ivoian ginners, while the 218,000 that remained was old to Burkinabe and Malian gins for markedly lessthan the prevailing rate in Cote d'Ivoire (USD 20 vs. USD 360 per ton) - but at least that way frmers are paid in cash, rather than credit. Thi pattern has only exacerbated the difficulties exerienced by the whole sector in the North - ginners can't extend credit for inputs, so herbicide producers have stopped extending credit, leading many individual farmers to cut back on acreage under production; according to ARK's Soro, this year's acreage is down substantially. Moreover, Soro reports that as cooperatives that had become ginners and commercial lenders take advantage of new assistance to clear their debts, they are being forced to liquidate a percentage of the debt themselves in cash. Thus larger, more prosperous cooperative members report being forced to sell capital equipment to make good on overall cooperative debts, further depressing the overall cotton economy. While some cotton farmers are reported to have actually refused to borrow inputs to avoid falling into debt, others continue to engage in cotton production, diverting a portion of inputs into vegetable gardens, limiting their loss-producing cotton crops while further impoverishing ginners. -------------- Cashews -------------- ¶7. (SBU) ARK Director Soro said that cashew farmers, located throughout the far northern reaches of Cote d'Ivoire, were hurting as well. Echoing complaints Emboff heard at an informal June dinner with key cashew industry stakeholders and visiting USAID tree crop experts, prices for raw nuts have plummeted; some farmers complain of farmgate prices of 50 CFA/kg and below (USD .10),while consumer prices for processed nuts available in Abidjan markets are at or above international levels. For many cashew farmers, collecting nuts has become an uneconomic activity. The phenomena of "le racket," in which Forces Nouvelles as well as FANCI troops exact payments on trucks passing through their territories has worsened the situation markedly; estimates by industry insiders of increased costs for a load of cashew nuts headed to Abidjan are 30 percent and above. ¶8. (SBU) The Embassy team visited Ivorian-owned SITA's cashew factory in Odienne, the first such facility in Cote d'Ivoire but which has been closed since May 2007 when raw nut supply dwindled due to late-arriving rains. The local SITA manager said that cashews are a relatively new crop for Cote d'Ivoire, and that the local market for processed nuts (and also cashew fruit) is not yet well developed. Introduced in the '70s through a World Bank-funded anti-desertification program, cashew trees, along with mango and teak stands, dominate the landscape and, according to long-time observers, have expanded the region's tree coverage considerably (cashew stands alone cover an estimated 35,000 hectares). Annual production stands at approximately 200,000 tons annually (making Cote d'Ivoire the largest producer in Africa) and industry experts say that production could expand to 400,000 easily, were market forces more favorable. ¶9. (SBU) SITA's production facility currently collects ABIDJAN 00000925 003 OF 003 approximately 1000 tons of raw cashews annually and exports the dried (but not roasted) product. When the facility is in full operation, it roasts and packages 1200 tons annually in addition to the separate exports of semi-finished nuts. SITA has begun a new cooperative relationship with a Vietnamese cashew producer, which has given the local company greater technical expertise in identifying nut quality, bulk packaging and distribution. SITA was keen to discuss with Emboffs how international development assistance and modest corporate engagement could be leveraged to disseminate simple but effective techniques to improve raw nut quality and improve farm field management (Note: Emboffs are in contact with USAID/WARP in developing this approach, and are engaging with the World Bank and other donors on the same. End Note) -------------- Forest Products in the "Greater West" -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The Embassy team visited the Guiglo HQ of French-owned forest products company Thanry, and received a briefing on their operations. Engaged principally in the harvesting of iroko (a tropical hardwood often used in rail ties),Thanry employs over 600 and has operations throughout the "Greater West," both in government-controlled zones as well as around the Forces Nouvelles-controlled town of Danane. Nationwide, the industry is the third-biggest agricultural exporter after cocoa and coffee, generating over USD 300 million in 2005 from 2 million (m3) of exports. Company executives said that their operations were a benefit to the region, in that they scrupulously adhere to government-mandated reforestation and preservation of large tree rules, and that their sawmill operations provide quality jobs (Note: only teak can be legally exported as raw logs). ¶11. (SBU) Thanry executives said the main problem facing the forest industry is the uncontrolled establishment of cocoa and coffee farms by mainly Burkinabe and Malian farmers in the strife-torn region (reftel A). Thanry or other lumber companies will purchase land rights to parcels owned by either villages in common or in the peripheral areas around the "foret classee" (the equivalent of the U.S. National Forest Service),only to find squatters having cleared land and set up communities. This phenomena especially hampers efforts to reforest; squatters routinely take advantage of recently-cut areas by destroying new seedlings and setting up farms. ¶12. (SBU) During a meeting with the Guiglo-based WFP program, local WFP Director Kombe told Emboffs that locals, recently displaced in ethnic clashes, have approached the regional prefect to ask for permission to settle in the "foret classee," following the prefect's request to the central government to reclassify portions of the protected forest suitable for agriculture as a means of addressing the political concerns of long-term foreign residents (Burkinabe, Malian) of the area (reftel A). Thanry executives, who understand the political dynamics involved, see this option as further undermining the long-term interests of the forest products industry and yet a further blow to controlled management of forest resources. ¶13. (SBU) Comment. While cocoa, coffee, oil and gas have been the drivers of an economy that has produced modest growth despite the ongoing economic crisis (1.2 percent in 2005, according to the IMF),these industries do not directly benefit regions outside of the southern, government-controlled belt. Cotton, and to a lesser extent, cashews are the mainstays of the North's economy, and they both are in deep trouble. Wood products, hard hit by over logging, still generates respectable income (and probably more than is reported officially, given the volume of teak logs seen traversing the nation's highways) but its future is intimately tied up with the conflict over land in the West. The international community is trying to find ways to strengthen the economy in the zones where combatants will have to give up their weapons and return to civilian activities. The state of affairs in these three industries indicates the challenge is formidable. End Comment. AKUETTEH