While achieving 40 percent traceability marks progress, wide gaps remain.

Côte d’Ivoire has reported that it successfully traced 40 percent of its cocoa production during the 2024/25 season, running from October to September, according to the most recent Cocoa Barometer report.

The 200‑page examination of the global chocolate industry touches on critical issues such as poverty, deforestation and human rights, and underscores that weak traceability persists as a central flaw in Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa value chain. Much of the nation’s cocoa production is still channelled through fragmented systems. The study highlights that sourcing often passes through multiple intermediaries, rather than linking farmers directly to processors. This opacity hinders efforts to monitor environmental impact or hold parties accountable for deforestation and unsustainable practices.

Indeed, the report estimates that 60 percent of Ivorian cocoa remains untraced  a figure broadly in line with prior research. A 2023 study by Trase and UCLouvain found that 55 percent of cocoa exported in 2019 lacked traceability. Researcher Cécile Rénier points out that weak institutional ties between cooperatives and smallholders aggravate the problem: farmers may sell to multiple buyers or even informal agents, while cooperatives sometimes buy from non‑members to meet volume goals. This weakens accountability and complicates efforts to verify that the cocoa declared actually originates from the claimed plots.

At the policy level, this report emerges amid debates over the European Union’s deforestation regulation set to ban imports linked to forest loss. Though its implementation has been delayed to 2026, traceability is now more urgent than ever, since the EU receives 55 percent of Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa and cocoa product exports. In response, Côte d’Ivoire has introduced a National Coffee‑Cocoa Traceability System, launched in September 2023, to record commercial transactions and enable tracking of individual sacks. Between 2019 and 2020, the Coffee and Cocoa Board (CCC) conducted a detailed census of farmers and their plots, and in 2022 began issuing identity cards to farmers that include plot sizes and ownership details. To date, approximately 855,000 of the 993,000 registered farmers have received these cards, covering more than 3.2 million hectares of cocoa and coffee land.

While achieving 40 percent traceability marks progress, wide gaps remain. Strengthening transparency across the supply chain, deepening integration of trace systems, and forging more dependable connections between farmers and buyers are vital for enhancing sustainability. Only then can Côte d’Ivoire hope to align with export standards and shield its cocoa sector from deforestation, environmental harm and human rights abuses.

The goal is to help farmers, designers and artisans move up the chain, build climate resilience, and create fairer trade opportunities.

On World Cotton Day 2025, celebrated at FAO headquarters in Rome, Africa’s cotton sector took centre stage as stakeholders emphasised a bold shift toward sustainable, value‑added trade to underpin inclusive industrialisation and climate‑smart growth under the AfCFTA framework

Cotton still lies at the heart of many African rural economies from Chad and Burkina Faso through to Zambia and Tanzania but the industry now faces growing headwinds. Export dynamics are changing: the benefits once enjoyed under AGOA are expiring, and buyers demand higher sustainability standards. Meanwhile, farmers wrestle with unpredictable rainfall, degrading soils, constrained finances and weak access to agricultural innovations. A significant portion of the cotton harvested continues to be shipped off the continent as raw fibre, meaning African nations forego the higher revenues and employment that come with processing and manufacturing.

At the Rome gathering, organisations such as ITC, FAO, WTO, UNIDO and African governments reaffirmed their resolve to deepen the cotton‑to‑clothing value chain across the continent. The goal is to help farmers, designers and artisans move up the chain, build climate resilience, and create fairer trade opportunities. In Tanzania and Zambia, for instance, smallholders are trialling climate‑smart approaches: instead of burning crop residues, they convert them into biochar to restore soil fertility and cut emissions. Over 10,000 Tanzanian farmers employed these practices in a year, seeing yield rises of up to 20%. In Zambia, around 130,000 farmers doubled their output while tapping into the world’s first cotton‑linked carbon credits.

Elsewhere, in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, women artisans and emerging fashion creators are transforming African cotton into high‑value textile goods. Through partnerships with the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), they access global markets and elevate Africa’s design identity. At the manufacturing end, support schemes such as ITC’s GTEX/MENATEX and the UK Trade Partnerships (UKTP) are helping firms in Egypt, Ethiopia and Tanzania to scale, improve competitiveness, and expand trade within Africa and beyond.

The ambition is bold: under AfCFTA’s umbrella, cotton can evolve from a raw export into a vibrant, sustainable industry. African governments and partners are pushing for investment in regional processing, compliance with sustainability norms, and smart trade strategies. In this renewed vision, cotton ceases to be merely a crop it becomes a conduit for economic empowerment, climate action, and pride. The aspiration is clear: an Africa where cotton is not only cultivated, but processed, designed and traded, sustaining both communities and a more equitable future. 

The higher-quality seeds have been collected marking a considerable increase from the previous year.

The agricultural sector is heading into the 2025–2026 cereal season with renewed momentum, thanks to a significant rise in the production of high-quality seeds.

According to the latest report, approximately 702,000 quintals of higher-quality seeds have been collected marking a considerable increase from the previous year.

This sharp rise is being hailed as a direct result of intensified national efforts to boost local seed production and strengthen food security through agri-tech and innovation. The net output of certified seeds now stands at 515,000 quintals, nearly double last year’s volume of 261,000 quintals, representing a 97.3% increase. The majority of this production is spread across 460,000 hectares of durum wheat, 45,000 hectares of soft wheat, and 10,000 hectares of barley.

At the same time, the estimated demand for certified seeds remains high, with projections standing at 573,000 quintals, alongside an expected 127,000 quintals for barley. With this in mind, national planning efforts have shifted gears to ensure farmers have timely access to the inputs they need especially as drought conditions continue to be a pressing concern.

In response to the challenging climate outlook, the government has implemented proactive measures to support producers. As part of the preparations for the upcoming season, the prices of basic chemical fertilisers have been frozen, following the decision made during the Restricted Ministerial Council on 20 May 2025. This move is designed to shield farmers from market volatility and reduce the cost burden on cereal growers.

The planned sowing area for the 2025–2026 cereal season is estimated at 1.145mn hectares, with 853,000 hectares allocated to the Northwestern regions and 291,000 hectares to the Central and Southern governorates. Irrigated land, however, is set to decrease slightly, with 77,000 hectares projected, down from 80,000 hectares the previous year.

To support this scale of cultivation, the fertiliser programme for the season will supply 289,000 tonnes of basic chemical fertilisers. The Tunisian Chemical Group has pledged to produce 150,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at the Gabes facility, with plans to import an additional 70,000 tonnes. By late September, 38,000 tonnes of superphosphate 45, 46,000 tonnes of DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) and 37,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had already been distributed to agricultural companies.

“This season’s strong seed output is a testament to coordinated efforts across the agricultural value chain, ensuring farmers are better equipped to face future challenges,” the report concluded.

The government plans to increase irrigated land from aiming to build a resilient, tech-driven food system.

Rwanda is stepping into the future of farming with the integration of machine learning and satellite imagery to modernise its agriculture sector

The government’s latest push aims to increase efficiency, profitability, and sustainability, with a strong focus on attracting young people into agribusiness.

According to Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, this shift marks a significant departure from traditional, labour-intensive field sampling previously used for agricultural data collection. "Today, we are moving forward using machine learning, using satellite imaging, where we are able to estimate the crop area and the crop growth condition, and therefore to be able to estimate the yield using technology," he said.

This season, the approach will begin with maize, Irish potatoes, and rice, with plans to expand to crops like cassava. Challenges remain with crops such as beans, which are intercropped and harder to detect via satellite, but advancements are ongoing.

Bagabe described the transformation as a move from smallholder subsistence to high-tech commercial agriculture, making the sector more appealing to young Rwandans. “You cannot create profit, you cannot make it a business, unless you standardise... That’s precision, that’s standardisation,” he explained, citing automated irrigation as an example of this modern approach.

Precision agriculture, which uses GPS, sensors, drones, and satellite data, allows farmers to optimise water, fertiliser, and pesticide use while increasing yields and sustainability. Already in Rwanda, automated systems are helping regulate irrigation based on real-time crop needs, cutting labour costs and conserving water.

The government plans to increase irrigated land from 70,000 to 130,000 hectares by 2029, aiming to build a resilient, tech-driven food system.

Youth-led businesses are embracing drone technology for crop monitoring and exporting these services across borders. “Technology has come to make agriculture much easier for us,” Bagabe stressed.

Cynthia Umutoniwabo, CEO of Loopa, urged young agripreneurs to build businesses around solving real problems. “Build solutions that are addressing real challenges... then it’s not going to be a hustle,” she advised.