To ensure that farmers receive a good living wage, a coalition of Ghanaian and Ivorian CSOs and cocoa farmers have made a strong plea for changes to the cocoa market’s international price structure. The group has suggested that these reforms must consider the cost of producing the product as a crucial factor in determining out how much farmers are paid for their output.
According to Obed Owusu-Addai, Co-coordinator of the Ghana Civil-society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), speaking exclusively to Cocoa Post in Grand Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire, “Between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, we agree that currently, the system for setting the international cocoa prices is not fair on the farmers, not only in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, but generally,”.
Mr. Owusu-Addai noted that the current international pricing architecture for cocoa is determined on the futures market of the New York and London stock exchanges and “does not take into consideration the cost of production of farmers”.
According to him, the Ghanaian and Ivorian CSOs and cocoa farmer groups reached “a consensus that we need to focus on advocacy to try and address that issue to let the international community know that when it comes to setting the international pricing of cocoa they need to factor in the cost of production”.
The two countries that produce the most cocoa, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire together account for more than 60% of the world’s supply. However, millions of smallholder cocoa farmers from the two neighbouring West African countries that account for more than 70% of the country’s production have been living in abject poverty for decades, mostly because of unfair prices.