ABIDJAN: In a factory in southern Ivory Coast, where machines hum to produce chocolate bars and spreads, twin brothers dream of becoming “giants of cocoa processing.”
Ivory Coast, which holds its presidential election this Saturday, is the world’s leading cocoa producer but only processes about 40 percent locally while the rest is exported.
Fousseni and Alahassane Diakite, 33, opened a processing factory in August in their hometown of Divo, situated in a cocoa-dependent region some 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the economic capital Abidjan, with hopes of closing the gap.
Stored in jute sacks, the beans are roasted to unleash their aroma, shelled, and then ground.
The factory has a processing capacity of 36,000 tons annually, with a target of 80,000 tons.
