The leaders of West Africa’s two largest economies have signed a sweeping pact to harmonize their cocoa pricing policies, aiming to shield local farmers from market volatility and assert control over the global chocolate supply chain.
During a high-level summit in Abidjan on Tuesday, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama issued a joint declaration renewing their commitment to a sustainable cocoa economy.
The agreement marks a significant escalation in cooperation between the two nations, which together control roughly 60 percent of global cocoa production.
Under the newly signed accord, Ivory Coast and Ghana will align their crop-season calendars, synchronize market premiums, and harmonize farm-gate price policies—the minimum price guaranteed to farmers at harvest.
The strategy is designed to optimize producer remuneration and curb the cross-border smuggling that often disrupts both economies when prices diverge.
“Fair remuneration for farmers is a pillar of the sector’s sustainability and a requirement for economic justice and social stability,” the two leaders stated in the joint text, emphasising that the smallholder farmer must be placed “at the center of priorities for sector governance and value sharing.”
The summit builds upon the foundational Abidjan Declaration of 2018, which led to the creation of the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) and the introduction of the Living Income Differential (LID)—a $400-per-ton premium intended to combat farmer poverty.
Despite those milestones, the West African neighbors face growing headwinds. African nations produce roughly 80 percent of the world’s cocoa but capture only a marginal fraction of the multi-billion-dollar global chocolate industry’s value.
Furthermore, the sector is increasingly threatened by illegal gold mining, climate change, and strict new international sustainability and deforestation regulations.
To counter these pressures, the agreement outlines plans to aggressively expand domestic processing capacity, stimulate regional consumption of cocoa products, and deepen scientific research to combat the devastating Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease.
Looking beyond their borders, President Ouattara and President Mahama announced plans to expand the CIGCI framework to other African cocoa-producing nations. By pulling more countries into the alliance, the leaders aim to build a broader regional coalition capable of shifting the balance of power in international trade negotiations.
The declaration concludes a crucial diplomatic effort to protect West Africa’s primary cash crop, signaling to global commodity markets that the world’s top producers intend to dictate the terms of their economic future.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana