256 Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential
producers (Archer Daniels Midland [ADM], Cargill, Barry Callebaut) have recently built modern plants
near these ports. In 2005 about half of cocoa beans were processed in Côte d’Ivoire and 16 percent
in Ghana, with Ghana’s share of processing increasing more recently. Use of cocoa products in the
production of chocolate and processed foods remains mostly in Europe and North America.Table 2 shows shares of agricultural production value, agricultural value added and gross domestic
roduct (GDP) generated on farms by seed cotton production and by cocoa bean production.^3 Since
input use is low, especially for cocoa and for subsistence crops, similar shares are found for production
and value added. These shares are very large for cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, at 22 percent and
18 percent of value added, respectively. The value added share is also large for cotton in Mali, at 12
percent. Larger and more diverse agricultural economies and larger proportions of subsistence crops
yield smaller shares in the other countries. Agriculture’s share of GDP has been declining in these
countries, but sizeable shares of GDP from these crops are found in some cases. Cotton production
accounts for 4.3 percent of GDP in Burkina Faso and 4.0 percent in Mali. Cocoa production accounts
for 4.9 percent of GDP in Côte d’Ivoire and 6.9 percent in Ghana. These statistics show the considerable
importance of these two crops in the rural economies of these countries, and hence their importance
in determining smallholder farm incomes.(^3) These data for 2005 and 2009 were taken from FAOSTAT (2012) and in the case of value added and GDP from
World Development Indicators (World Bank, 2012). Most studies consulted for this paper provided similar statistics to
highlight the roles of exports and farm income from these crops, which show wide variations. This is likely due to poor
data quality rather than changing roles for these crops either in export markets or in a country’s agricultural sector.
(^4) Data for both the ICCO cocoa price and the cotton A index were taken from IMF (2012). The Cotlook A index has
varied in definition over time. In the past regional indices have been published, which show qualitatively similar trends.
Table 2. Gross Production Value (GPV) as a Share of Agricultural Production, Value Added from
Agriculture and GDP, 2005 and 2009
Seed cotton Cocoa beans
Country GPV as a % of 2005 2009 2005 2009
Burkina Faso Agriculture 14,58 8,66
Value Added 13,23 .. 98
GDP 4,34 2,60 81
% of Tot. Exports 62 0,2 53
Cameroon Agriculture 2,45 0,81 5,03 7,91
Value Added 3,51 .. 7,22 ..
GDP 0,67 0,26 1,37 2,51
Côte d'Ivoire Agriculture 2,77 0,75 19,72 24,55
Value Added 3,03 0,86 21,54 28,34
GDP 0,69 0,21 4,91 6,99