The Arts sector “Books and Snacks” in Côte d’Ivoire presents a promising and thriving development prospect

1. How is the situation about the Arts industry in Côte d’Ivoire related to its economic and cultural foundation?

As one of the typical cultural and creative industries’ core countries in West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire has long given high attention to its cultural and creative industries, and has carried out in-depth support and development. The country’s cultural and creative industries cover a wide range, including publishing, handicrafts, music, visual arts, food culture and others, which have greatly enhanced the economic development level of Côte d’Ivoire and the quality of life of its residents, further promoting its foreign cultural exchanges and cultural dissemination, cultivating people’s sentiments, and inspiring more people around the world to be interested in and study the cultural connotations of Côte d’Ivoire.

On April 29, 2025, the West African Economic Gateway website conducted a related report. According to the relevant data, the number of cultural enterprises in Côte d’Ivoire was 2,831 in 2012, but by 2024, the number of related enterprises in the local area had reached 6,070. The revenue of this industry was 171 billion West African francs. This shows that the cultural and creative industry has received great attention and achieved good development in the local area, and also reflects the strong support and active promotion of the local government for this industry. Handicrafts including cultural food contributed approximately 19.5% of the GDP of Côte d’Ivoire to the domestic economy in 2022. From 2015 to 2022, the added value of this field has increased from 386 trillion West African francs to 865 trillion West African francs, an increase of 124%.

Meanwhile, the government of Côte d’Ivoire has incorporated cultural creativity into its national development plan (from 2021 to 2025), strengthened the protection of product copyrights and the cultivation of local IP, and the copyright income of BURIDA reached 5.5 billion CFA francs in 2024.

2. What are the cultural and linguistic foundations of Côte d’Ivoire?

As a country where French is the official language, Côte d’Ivoire has produced internationally renowned writers such as Amadou Kuruma. Meanwhile, the local oral literature, including legends and proverbs, are important sources for book creation and modern literature. Additionally, the country has diverse tribal cultures, which have ancient origins and a long history. These cultures are witnesses to the continuous changes and development of the civilization on this vast land and are one of the local sources of book content and snack flavors for the cultural, artistic and creative industries of Côte d’Ivoire. For example, local characteristics wood carvings and masks can be transformed into cultural books and packaging elements. Therefore，when colonial heritage and local culture are deeply integrated，a distinctive product style of “French refinement + African local” is formed，which is extremely suitable for the local and French-speaking markets.

3. How endowment is the local agricultural resource？

As the world’s largest producer of cocoa and the largest producer of cashew nuts, Côte d’Ivoire accounts for over 40% of the global cocoa production and 40% of the global cashew nut production. Both cocoa and cashew nuts are the core ingredients of local snacks. At the same time, Côte d’Ivoire also produces other local specialty foods, including cassava, bananas, peanuts, palm oil, etc. These greatly support the industrialization of traditional snacks such as Atiéka, Alokò (fried bananas), and peanut butter. The local agricultural policies have effectively promoted on-site processing of cocoa and cashew nuts, significantly reducing the production costs of local snacks and effectively enhancing their added value.

4. What’re the strengths to development of the Books / Snacks (Arts Industry) ?

Rich cultural resources: Tribal traditions, oral literature, and French heritage provide abundant material for books, packaging, and artistic IP.

Agricultural dominance: Low-cost, high-quality cocoa and cashews ensure supply competitiveness and product differentiation.

Policy support: Government incentives for publishing and agro-processing align with sector growth.

Unique integration: The “Books + Snacks” model combines cultural storytelling with local cuisine, offering high recognition and premium potential.

Regional market access: Shared language and culture facilitate expansion into neighbouring Francophone countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Benin).

5. Where are the weaknesses to the industry?

Limited publishing capacity: Few printing facilities, publishers concentrated in Abidjan, and a shortage of local writers constrain output. French and Belgian imports dominate.

Weak local processing: Only 31% of cocoa is processed locally; cashew processing remains primary, limiting product sophistication.

Underdeveloped distribution: E-commerce (Jumia, Konga) is growing but still small. Logistics, packaging, and shelf-life management are immature.

Digital publishing in infancy: E-books and audiobooks lack local platforms and content, despite 70% 4G coverage.
 

6. What are the opportunities to encourage this industry and the workers?

Untapped cultural assets: Folk stories, traditional patterns, and cocoa culture can become children’s books, illustrated editions, and premium gift boxes.

Rising cultural consumption: Urban middle-class, tourists, and youth seek authentic, healthy, artistically packaged products.

Cultural tourism growth: Gift boxes combining books and snacks appeal to tourists and corporate clients.

Digital expansion: Social media and e-commerce offer cost-effective channels to reach young consumers.

Regional integration: The expanding West African market provides a larger customer base.

Policy alignment: Government support for local processing and creative industries is favourable.

Gaps in children’s and parent-child market: Demand for educational picture books and healthy snacks is unmet.

7. Which potential threats need to be given attention?

Import competition: French and Nigerian books and snacks often have price and brand advantages.

Economic volatility: Inflation may prioritise essential goods over cultural products.

Weak IP and food safety enforcement: Piracy, counterfeits, and inconsistent quality pose risks.

Infrastructure gaps: Poor logistics, cold chain, and warehousing limit snack distribution.

Lack of industry standards: No unified norms hinder scalability.

8. Conclusions and advice

In Côte d’Ivoire, the Books and Snacks sectors of the Arts industry are highly valued by the government and the public, and have great potential for development.

This industry requires a deeper level of localization. Creators can enhance the local oral literature and historical content by writing books. In the snack sector, the processing rate of cocoa and cashew nuts needs to be increased to build the brand of “Made in Côte d’Ivoire”.

The integration of culture and innovation also needs to be accelerated, that is, to make “Books + Snacks” become a new sector in the Arts industry, so as to enable cultural empowerment to enhance product value and market competitiveness.

The marketing channels for cultural and creative products need to be integrated with digitalization. By combining traditional stores with online sales, making e-commerce platforms, cultural and creative markets, and tourism and cultural scenarios the main core channels, and through digital books and live-streaming of snacks to achieve rapid growth of cultural and creative products.
 

Policy-driven measures are also one of the important forces promoting the development of the cultural and creative industries. Copyright protection, agricultural processing subsidies, and cultural funds should continue to be given due attention to continuously expand the industry and promote the gradual improvement of local supply and consumption capabilities.

All in all, this is a distinctive field where cultural resources and agricultural resources mutually empower each other. However, there are also short-term issues that need to be addressed, such as local production capacity, prices, and distribution channels. Nevertheless, this industry is long-term dependent on cultural creativity and regional markets, and has the potential to become a benchmark for cultural creativity in West Africa.