APA-Côte d’Ivoire) Côte d’Ivoire is experiencing production shortfalls of certain agricultural commodities due to speculation.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Food Production, and the Minister of Finance and Budget have issued a memorandum announcing the suspension of exports of food products for six months from 15 January 2024.
The State of Côte d’Ivoire controls the export of food products in order to avoid an imbalance between supply and demand. The suspension comes at a time when the country is welcoming thousands of visitors for the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
The aim of this measure is to ensure a regular supply of food products to the markets, in order to guarantee food security for the people living in Côte d’Ivoire, explains the inter-ministerial note.
Soumaila Bredoumy, spokesman for the ‘Parti Democratique de Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI; opposition), told a press luncheon on Tuesday that “our country is increasingly experiencing food production shortfalls in the crops in which Côte d’Ivoire used to have a production surplus.”
“The productivity of our farms is stagnating at best, if not declining in some cases. Others are no longer competitive. For the time being, other basic products will unfortunately see consumer price increases in the near future”, he warned.
The spokesman for the PDCI, the former single party, pointed out that 60,000 people make their living from the sugar industry in Côte d’Ivoire, with an annual production of around 250,000 tonnes. However, the country is experiencing a “deficit, but also a problem of competitiveness.”
“The price of a kilogram of sugar could rise if there is no subsidy,” Soumaila Bredoumy said, pointing out that production of manioc, an agricultural commodity, had also dropped.
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