The economy of Ivory Coast is dominated by agriculture, in particular the growing of cocoa beans, the country’s largest export.
Ivory Coast supplies more than a third of the world’s cocoa and its exports for the global chocolate market were worth around 2.5 billion dollars in 2010 (according to the UN's Food & Agriculture Organisation).
However, revenues from cocoa production are threatened by regular blights such as black pod disease. Small farmers are unable to afford the regular spraying which would protect their cocoa crops. The industry also suffers from under-investment.
Local investment is hampered by high taxes on farmers, with around 40% of the money paid by commodity buyers going to the government. Since most cocoa producers are small-scale, this has led some farmers to rely on child labour to make a living.