The governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana have committed to strengthening cooperation and raising pay for cocoa farmers in the region, as the sector seeks to recover from major economic tests and environmental challenges, writes Neill Barston.

Notably, the two neighbouring nations recently held a joint summit to discuss prospects for the hard-hit industry which remains vital to both countries’ export business, providing the world’s confectionery and chocolate markets with around two thirds of cocoa supplies.

Alessane Ouattara, president of Ivory Coast and John Mahama met to develop an economic plan for the sector, in light of major price fluctuations, which saw commodities prices on futures trading platforms drop from over $12,000 a tonne for crops, down to around $3,000 earlier this year. Further concerns over expected el Nino weather conditions have pushed prices up to around the $6,000 a tonne mark within the past few weeks.

In response, both Ghana and Ivory Coast significantly cut farm gate prices paid to agricultural workers by 40% and 60% respectively, leaving many unions fearing that communities were now further than ever from earning a living wage from the industry.

The issue will be among topics discussed at our next World Confectionery Conference taking place in London on 10 September at the America Square venue, with our early bird visitor rate being retained for one week only until 14 July via our dedicated event website.

As previously reported, the situation has forged a deepening crisis that has been rooted in underlying poverty levels, and successive lack of infrastructure investment within the region, and the cocoa sector itself, along with adverse weather conditions and crop disease (swollen shoot virus) affecting a large volume of crops that have severely tested the industry in the region.

In the wake of these combined issues, Ghana’s government-backed Cocobod organisation has this past week reported the release of an additional payment of GH¢2.6 billion Cedis ($228,000 US dollars), to Licensed buying companies within the industry to assist farmers. 

The industry body has further reported that since the start of the 2025/26 Crop Season, its has paid an amount of GH¢ 34,523,447,255.64 to licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) for onward payment to agricultural workers within the sector.

Significantly, it remains unclear as to whether farm gate prices agreed with farmers from last year’s higher prices will be honoured, which remained a further issue of concern for the industry. Both West African nations had been due to appear at this year’s Chocoa event in Amsterdam, but its high-level representatives declined to attend the conference at the 11th hour due to the ongoing pricing crisis.

Cocobod commitment
For its part, Cocobod asserted that farmers would be placed at the heart of its plans moving forward in terms of governance and value sharing, which would build on the Ivory Coast Abidjan Declaration of March 26, 2018, which serves as the foundation for cooperation between the two States in the cocoa sector.

At its recent joint meeting, the heads of state acknowledged the value of the industry to their respective communities, and noted the work of the Ivory Coast Ghana Cocoa Initiative of the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI), which established the cross-border  Living Income Differential (LID).

In addition, they noted that there had been harmonisation of marketing and price announcements to producers, the implementation of traceability and the African Regional Standards for Sustainable Cocoa (ARS-1000), and the cooperation between research institutes to combat the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD).

Moreover, they also noted that significant challenges remain including price volatility, illegal gold mining, adverse effects of climate change, as well as the rise of  cocoa alternatives, and pressures placed on its systems through upcoming EUDR deforestation and corporate due diligence addressing ongoing issues of child labour within the sector.

In addition, the two governments observed that despite Africa accounting for 80% of global cocoa production, it still only captures a marginal share of the value within supply chains.

As such, the two nations agreed to harmonise farm-gate price policies to support farmers, guarantee producers fair and decent remuneration and place them at the heart of the cocoa value chain.

Among other measures promised including strengthening scientific cooperation on managing crop disease, enhancing local processing capacity for cocoa to enable greater profits and employment at regional level. 

They also vowed to expand its Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative to other African nations to further bolster its impact in order to drive bargaining power on international markets.