tug-of-war

Côte d’Ivoire – Ghana: Farmers vs multinationals in cocoa war

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Cocoa War: Farmers vs multinationals

By Estelle Maussion

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Posted on January 11, 2023 08:51

As the world’s largest and second-largest suppliers of cocoa beans, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have started a tug-of-war with the giants of the chocolate industry to obtain better remuneration for their cocoa farmers. It is likely to be a long battle.

This is part 1 of a 5-part series

Behind the sweetness associated with chocolate lies the bitterness of the battle waged over cocoa.

Cultivated in the countries of the South, mainly in West Africa as well as in Latin and South America, the beans of this precious brown gold are mainly consumed in the North, on the European, American and Asian markets.

This results in an unbalanced distribution of revenues from the sale of bars and other sweets (confectionery, cakes, spreads, etc.). The final producers – multinational chocolate companies such as Lindt, Ferrero, Mars, Nestlé and Hershey’s – and the vendors – namely supermarkets – receive the bulk of the revenue generated by the sector, estimated at $130bn (€121.4bn) per year.

‘Unfairness’

At the other end of the chain, in the cocoa-growing regions of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana – the world’s largest and second largest producers of cocoa beans,

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