Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s two largest cocoa producers, signed a joint declaration pledging closer cooperation on pricing, local processing, environmental protection and scientific research, as the two countries seek better incomes for millions of cocoa farmers.
The declaration was signed at a high-level bilateral summit in Abidjan between Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama and his Ivorian counterpart, President Alassane Ouattara. Together, the two countries produce about 60% of the world’s cocoa, making their partnership central to the global market.
Addressing the summit, Ouattara underscored the importance of the partnership. “With my brother, President John Dramani Mahama, we reaffirm today our determination to continue building together a fair, prosperous and sustainable cocoa economy for Cote d’Ivoire, for Ghana and for Africa,” he said, adding that the future of the sector was “a major issue of economic sovereignty, social stability and shared prosperity” for both nations.
Mahama, for his part, emphasized the need for closer collaboration to improve farmers’ livelihoods and create greater value from cocoa production. “We are partners, not adversaries or competitors, in the cocoa sector. This collaboration must be strengthened, and it must allow us to make our producers happy,” he said, stressing that the goal was not only to produce cocoa but to process more of it locally.
Under the declaration, the two leaders agreed to expand the Cocoa Alliance by inviting other African cocoa-producing countries to join, with the aim of strengthening the continent’s collective bargaining power in international markets. They also agreed to establish a common framework for determining cocoa producer prices, alongside stronger market intelligence systems to help ensure fair and sustainable incomes for farmers.
Environmental protection featured prominently in the talks. Mahama and Ouattara voiced deep concern over the growing threat that illegal mining poses to rivers, lakes and agricultural land, and agreed on a coordinated strategy to curb the practice, restore polluted shared water bodies through clean-up operations, and protect cocoa production from the effects of climate change.
The two presidents also pledged to deepen scientific collaboration to combat cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) and other pests, which remain among the greatest threats to production. They reaffirmed their commitment to transforming Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire from exporters of raw cocoa beans into industrial processing hubs, and agreed to recognize the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) and the African Regional Standards for Sustainable Cocoa (ARS-1000) as key mechanisms for traceability and sustainability.
For the farmers who grow the beans in Ghana, the renewed collaboration represents more than diplomacy. It is a test of whether Africa’s two largest cocoa producers can finally use their collective market power to influence global prices and improve rural livelihoods across West Africa.
Sources: RFI, Modern Ghana
Author: Finance Desk
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