This festival, dubbed a cultural showcase by its creators, enabled the region’s cooperatives to display their craft, derived from local cultures aiming to source funding to industrialize their labour. “We manufacture cassava and other food products, and we process them, not without difficulty. We lack the proper material. We need help,” added Kouamé Akissi, Cooperative President. These requests are at the heart of the Lake District’s new policy, which aims to breathe new life into what was formerly known as the prosperous cocoa loop. In recent years, the Ivorian government has launched a vast regional empowerment project. With more than 60% of its land being arable, the Lake District holds an untapped economic potential.
SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS