Yesterday, July 3, 2022, the program "L'Entretien du Dimanche" of the television channel Eden Tv received Mr. Létondji Béhéton, the General Manager of the Investment and Promotion of Industry Company (SIPI). He came to talk about the Glo-Djigbé economic zone, covering an area of 10,000 hectares. According to him, 1,640 hectares have been entrusted to the SIPI. The first phase of the project covers an area of 400 ha, and the development work is underway. This area is available to 32 investors.

Very little profit from raw cotton
On site, they are setting up different kinds of factories. Among them will be factories for the manufacture of building materials, telephone and computer assembly, pharmaceuticals, the assembly of electric motorbikes and the processing of agricultural products. 

There will be three integrated textile factories in this first phase, says Létondji Béhéton. "We can no longer continue to sell (our) cotton in the raw... A kilo of raw cotton brings in about 1 dollar. However, if it is processed, it can be worth 10 dollars. Even more, at the garment manufacturing stage, it can be worth 25 to 30 dollars," explains SIPI's managing director.

Benin: home of African cotton production
According to him, Benin is the leading cotton producing country in Africa. And the market value of the raw white gold produced by this country is around 400 million dollars. When this raw material is processed, the result is a value of about 6 billion just on production while the market value will be around 11 billion CFA francs. 

For him, Benin has an interest in transforming its white gold, although this production will only account for 0.8% of the market. "There is a lot of room for improvement in cotton processing," says Létondji Béhéton.

The government's long-term objective is to transform all the cotton produced in Benin," he continues. At the start, there will be three integrated textile factories that have made investments of around 500 million dollars. These factories will each employ some 5,000 people. To these will be attached garment factories. Within two years, the objective is to increase the number of textile factories from 3 to 11, and then to 32 by 2030," says SIPI's director general.

 

Ch_Tah

© Photos Credits : Mode in Textile

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