De Heus to build second animal feed factory in Ivory Coast

CÔTE D’IVOIRE – Dutch animal feed producer De Heus has announced plans to build a new production facility in Korhogo, northern Côte d’Ivoire, marking its second investment in the country’s fast-growing livestock sector. 

The announcement was made on September 17 during a meeting between Animal Resources Minister Sidi Tiémoko Touré and Paul Bizard, director of De Heus Côte d’Ivoire.

“This future infrastructure is intended to be a strategic hub intended not only to strengthen local supply, but also to serve the entire sub-region,” the ministry said in a statement.

While the company has not disclosed the plant’s exact location, production capacity, or construction cost, the decision underscores its ambition to strengthen its footprint in West Africa. 

De Heus already operates a poultry feed factory in Attinguié, near Abidjan, which opened in 2023 with an annual capacity of 120,000 tons. 

Built through its Ivorian subsidiary at a cost of CFA8 billion (US$14.4 million), that plant produces complete feeds, concentrates, and speciality products tailored to the poultry and livestock industries.

The group’s expansion comes as Côte d’Ivoire accelerates efforts to scale up poultry production. 

Under its national poultry development strategy, the government aims to more than double annual chicken output to 200,000 tons by 2030, compared to 97,000 tons projected for 2024. 

The rising consumption of poultry meat, one of the fastest-growing segments of the country’s meat sector, is expected to drive sustained demand for high-quality animal feed.

Part of a wider African push

The Korhogo project also builds on De Heus’s broader growth strategy across Africa. In 2025, the company inaugurated a landmark fish feed plant in Jinja, Uganda, at a cost of US$25 million. 

With a capacity of 100,000 tons per year, it is the largest facility of its kind in East and Central Africa. De Heus is also nearing completion of a US$23 million animal feed factory in Athi River, Kenya, designed to produce 200,000 tons annually for poultry, ruminants, and swine.

By adding a second Ivorian plant, the Dutch group signals confidence in both domestic and regional market prospects.

The planned facility in Korhogo is expected to boost feed availability for local farmers while enhancing Côte d’Ivoire’s role as a hub for livestock production in West Africa.

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