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Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana account for nearly 60% of the world’s cocoa bean supply
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire plan to maintain a coordinated effort to ensure that living income differential (LID) requirements are met, Ghana Cocoa Board CEO Joseph Boahen Aidoo said.
In 2018, the two countries set up the Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire Cocoa Initiative to promote the cause of farmers in the cocoa sector and remain competitive on a global scale.
Among the main achievements of the initiative is the LID, which consists of a surcharge of USD 400 per tonne added to the price paid by buyers to improve the incomes of cocoa farmers in both countries.
Speaking at the signing of the Headquarters Agreement in Accra for the Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire Cocoa Initiative, Mr. Aidoo said that according to the core elements of the initiative’s charter, Ghana must provide a permanent office for the proper functioning of the organization.
This secretariat in Accra will serve not only Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire but all cocoa producing countries in the West African sub-region and beyond.
“The decision to bring the secretariat here in Accra has gained more weight and influence with the physical presence of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat already in Accra,” said the CEO.
Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, was elected chair of the Initiative’s steering committee, while Alex Pierre Arnaud Assanvo took over the management of the secretariat as first executive secretary .
Dr Akoto’s presidency will span the remainder of the current cocoa season which ends in September 2021 and will continue until the end of the next cocoa season in 2022.
The Governing Board is the supreme decision-making body of the initiative.
In the same program, the Ivorian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, said the Initiative was the idea of the two presidents Nana Akufo-Addo and Alhassane Quattara, who influenced the roadmap and the strategy for its achievement.
Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said the move will allow the two countries to harmonize their efforts as leaders in the global cocoa supply.
The initiative will improve coordination and research, child labor and pricing, and marks a step towards effective cooperation, she added.
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