A welcome raise in cocoa farmer pay remains the start of industry journey
Pic: WCF
With all that has been transpiring within international affairs over the past month, it would have been very easy not to have spotted the decision by authorities in Ivory Coast to raise cocoa prices paid to farmers by 22% for its upcoming mid crop.
While on the face of it, that sounds like extremely welcome news for an industry that has been suffering for decades of failing to pay agricultural workers what they are truly worth in relation to the profits that are made on global commodities platforms and major corporations.
To place this in context, it’s clear that key players in the sector have moved to enhance their sustainability programmes in recent years. This been backed up by tangible actions on the ground in terms of community engagement with education, agroforestry and training in financial management for women in farming communities, but for many observers of the sector, it’s achieving a living wage that is fundamental to ensuring the future of the industry.
For its part, Tony’s Chocolonely has devised its Open Chain policy of linking with retailers and sector businesses in creating links with farming co-operatives in Ivory Coast, and paying above the market rate for their cocoa beans. This is surely a step in the right direction towards raising prices for farmers, who remain largely on below poverty level wages, which have been entrenched for decades, and schemes like this are showing they have clear potential if enough businesses engage with the concept.
The company has just asserted that while it welcomes authorities paying more this month (raising prices 22%), this in itself isn’t solving the underlying problems of crop deficits, and crop diseases that have blighted the industry and failed to ensure farmer pay has kept track with the cost of living crisis that has held those very farmers in poverty.
On top of this, the US has moved to place 21% tariffs on Ivory Coast which will have a major impact on the industry if that proceeds – there has been a pause for 90 days, but that has left agricultural communities, along with markets around the world, confused and concerned.
Significantly, farmers’ unions in Ivory Coast have now called for the cocoa sector to be run independently of government control – which they view has failed to enable communities to make the most of higher prices being paid in the past two years due to the longstanding practice of supplies being sold a year in advance.
This huge issue isn’t going anywhere in a hurry, and it’s one I’ve been writing about personally for the past seven years in this role. Can it be solved? It remains possible, but it will take a major collaborative effort between industry and governments working together – which has yet to deliver a key long-term difference to farming communities in terms of their financial stability to enable the cocoa sector to thrive in the coming decades.
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