According to Agathe Vanie, who founded an association of women growers in her village of Boko, the reason is simple: "The misery of women in the face of the financial wealth of the men who own cocoa plantations."

The association at Boko, which lies about 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of the capital Abidjan in the southern forest district of Divo, has grown to about 1,000 members since it was founded in 2005. It is the first -- and thought to be the only one -- of its kind in this west African country, finances its own costs and receives no state subsidies.

`Women cannot inherit or even create a cocoa plantation under our patriarch-dominated tradition,`

said Vanie, criticising what she called a `backwards and misogynist` practice.

`We decided, whatever it took, to go the women and allow them to have plots of land,` said Vanie,

whose country is the world`s largest producer and exporter of cocoa, accounting for more than 40

percent of the world`s cocoa production.

`I meet village chiefs and I explain to them that women can make a contribution to expenses that

are increasingly heavy because of the cost of living and the price of food,` she continued.

`To begin with the reply was brutal and final: `No! A woman does not have the right to own a

plantation and later give us orders`.`

But Clementine Galo, in her 70s, managed to become a woman cocoa planter and is happy today to

have been one of those who took up the challenge.

`I was abandoned by my husband and I have only the plantation to meet my needs and prepare for

my final days,` she said, standing by her trees, spread over two hectares (five acres), with their

yellow pods of ripe beans.

Nearby her friend Henriette Gneza proudly showed off her 20 hectares (50 acres). Last year she harvested 10 tonnes of beans and with the income paid school fees for her two children.

She could do even better this year, with prices of beans expected to rise.

The association also seeks to organise women into cooperatives to win new recruits to look after

ageing plantations. But it is an uphill battle in this country of 20 million where despite women`s

increasingly active role in society, men still tend to make the decisions, head families and settle

arguments. `This activity gives them financial independence and lets them fight poverty in rural areas,` said Antoine Anon Dokou from the association.

A report from the United Nations Development Programme found that the poverty level in Ivory

Coast reached 43 percent of the population in 2007, three or four points up on the figure in 2002

when civil strife split the country. Women in the countryside are often the hardest-hit.

Vanie`s association wants to see her initiative copied and would like to launch a federation of women

coffee and cocoa producers. `Women have overcome their fear of men and difficulties in getting credit,` said association treasurer Veronique Gopo.

`We are going out to win over our sisters in other regions.`

`We talk about... the emancipation of women,` said Boko village chief Pierre Gbaza Zohouri, who

backs the project.

`In town you share household costs. Why not in the village?

`They have my blessing,` he added with a hint of resignation --- AFP