Benin has in the last few years become Africa's leading cotton producer, with annual production of 728,000 tonnes in 2020/21, according to government figures.
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We are going to transform this cotton, in particular by installing integrated textile factories," said Letondji Beheton, managing director of the Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone (GDIZ), about 45 km from Cotonou.
1/6 People work at a shirt-making factory in the Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone (GDIZ) in Abomey-Calavi, Benin October 13, 2022.
Although the systems are not yet in place to get cotton from field to factory, GDIZ has started training about 1,000 garment workers using imported materials for now.