Benin Turns Cotton Crop into Clothes at Home with Ambitious Initiative

Benin is Africa's largest cotton producer, accounting for 0.9% of global production between 2025 and 2026. The country aims to keep more of its cotton value at home by turning raw material into finished products.

The 'Made in Benin' initiative, led by entrepreneur Fatoumata Dosso, promotes the use of traditional fabrics from northern Benin. Her fashion business, DAF Collection, employs over a dozen women as weavers to create pieces of fabric from cotton and polyester yarns.

A private-public partnership established the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ) in 2020, where young workers process pineapples, cashew nuts, and other export goods. GDIZ processes around 40,000 tons of Beninese cotton annually to produce between 7-10 million garments.

Cotton is a profitable crop for smallholder farmers like Toussaint Bapetem, who earns more from it than from corn. His earnings have helped him repay debts and ensure his children's education.