Worker Resting On Bales Of Cotton, Thonakaha, Korhogo, Cote D’ivoire In the nineteenth century West Africa received its first cotton seeds of the 'Gossypium hirsutum' variety, which originated in the British Antilles and remains the most widely cultivated kind of cotton in the world. Cotton production in West Africa was originally intended to serve only local needs. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century this raw material represented 80 percent of the world textile market, and the European colonial powers encouraged greater production in order to break the export monopoly of the United States and Egypt. Harvested manually at a rate of 33 to 80 pounds (15 to 36 kg) per worker per day in tropical Africa, the cotton crop is then put through gins in order to separate fiber, seeds, and waste. One ton of cotton yields 880 pounds (400 kg) of fibers and 1,200pounds (560 kg) of seeds, which are processed for human consumption (as oil) or for animals (cattle cakes). The city of Korhogo, situated in northern Cote d'Ivoire, in the heart of the cotton production zone, has one of nine ginning plants in the country; Korhogo is also known for its traditional paintings on cotton fabric. Today, despite the development of synthetic materials, cotton still represents 47 percent of the world textile market, Cote d'Ivoire ranks eighteenth in world fiber production.