LatestBenin is intensifying efforts to retain more value from its status as Africa’s largest cotton producer by promoting domestic processing in the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone and expanding finished-goods exports under a Made in Benin initiative. The movement, led by entrepreneurs like Fatoumata Dosso of DAF Collection, aims to empower local workers, especially women, while government policy shifts away from raw exports and toward value-added products such as garments and other finished goods; Benin produced about 1.15 million bales of cotton in 2025–26, a 0.9% share of global output.Sep 13, 2026