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Cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast face bitter times as chocolate market slumps
Farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast, responsible for nearly 70% of global cocoa supply, face income loss and land leasing to miners amid price cuts and unsold stockpiles.
- Facing piled stock, governments in Ivory Coast and Ghana reduced guaranteed prices after Ivory Coast cut its cocoa farmer price this week to 1,200 CFA per kilogram.
- Following last year's market spike and collapse, traders pulled back from purchases after prices surged above $10,000 per tonne then crashed to around $4,000 as supply outstripped demand.
- In villages such as Kouamé-Kouassikro and Bangolo, sacks of unsold beans are piling up while farmers hold receipts instead of cash, and lorries have been parked for almost 21 days.
- Hundreds of thousands of cocoa farmers face income loss and lease land to illegal miners, with Mercy Amponsah warning 'Accepting the current price means my son will have to drop out of school.'
- Reform proposals from researchers include a price band system to share market gains and losses, while Ghana's Cocobod has cut its guaranteed price near $3,500 a tonne amid a $3bn shortfall and delayed payments.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Meet the African cocoa farmers who are letting their crops rot because the commodity price has fallen so much
Manu Yaw Fofie was born into the cocoa farming business, but the land bequeathed to him has become more of a burden than a blessing. A sharp fall in cocoa prices over the past year has left beans rotting in some West African warehouses, while global chocolate makers scramble for supplies and consumers seek their fix. With less money coming in, the 52-year-old Fofie in Ghana has taken the desperate step of giving part of his land to illegal sand …
readingeagle
By EDWARD ACQUAH and OPE ADETAYO KONA, Ghana (AP) — Manu Yaw Fofie was born into the cocoa farming business, but the land he inherited has become more of a burden than a blessing. A sharp drop in cocoa prices over the past year has left beans rotting in some West African warehouses as global chocolate makers scramble for supplies and consumers seek their fix. With less money coming in, Fofie, 52, in Ghana, has taken the desperate step of giving …
Rotting cocoa and a commodity crash push West African farmers to seek other options
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in West Africa rely on cocoa farming for a living. In Ivory Coast, cocoa bean exports make up 40% of the total export revenue. In neighboring Ghana, they make up nearly 15%.
Cocoa beans rot and West African farmers seek other options after commodity crash
Manu Yaw Fofie was born into the cocoa farming business, but the land bequeathed to him has become more of a burden than a blessing. A sharp fall in cocoa prices over the past year has left beans rotting in some West African warehouses, while global chocolate makers scramble for supplies and consumers seek their fix.
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