Today Africa, we draw your attention to the beautiful country of Cote d’Ivoire and what is happening in that countries art scene.
But first a bit of context.
For those of you who don’t know - Cote d’Ivoire attained independence from the French on the 7th of August 1960. Her first president was Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who ruled the country until 1993. After Felix Houphouet-Boigny ended, Cote d’Ivoire has experienced a coup d’etat, in 1999, and two religious - grounded civil wars. The first two took place between 2002 and 2007 and the second during 2010 – 2011.
Cote d’Ivoire has an income per capita (US$1014.4). She has the largest economy on the West African Economic and Monetary Union constituting 40% of the monetary union’s total GDP. She is the largest exporter of cocoa beans averaging US$2, 53 billion in earnings per year. Cote d’Ivoire also has 100,000 rubber farmers who earned an average of US$105 million per year. The country’s economy is largely market-based and still relies heavily on agriculture, with smallholder cash crop production being dominant.
This dependence on agriculture has encouraged Cote d’Ivoire to look at diversifying the economy. One of the ways in which the country is doing this is by developing creative industries.
To help us unpack this topic I have in the studio Mr. Behila Angama, the Cultural Attache of the Embassy of Cote d’Ivoire in South Africa
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