ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast is forecasting raw cotton production of 484,000 tonnes in the 2015/16 season due to open on Nov. 15, up from 450,000 tonnes during the previous season, the government said on Wednesday. Speaking after a cabinet meeting in the commercial capital Abidjan, government spokesman Bruno Kone said 440,000 hectares of cotton had been planted. The state’s farmer price would remain unchanged from last season at 250 CFA francs ($0.41) per kg, he said. “The target of 600,000 tonnes before 2020 set by the government is perfectly reachable,” Kone said. Ivory Coast, the world biggest cocoa producer, was also one of West Africa’s major cotton exporters, with an annual output of about 400,000 tonnes, before a 2002-2003 civil war split the country in two and halved production. Output has been rising steadily over the past five years. ($1 = 603.0700 CFA francs)