The annual partnership meeting of the World Cocoa Foundation, held in Brussels, recently came to an end. The two-day event discussed how to improve supply chains. A particular focus was on sustainability and working with farmers to enable them to earn a living wage
This year, for the first time in three years, the meeting was held in person, although some important guests were missing. Representatives from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the two largest Cocoa-producing countries in the world, were not present at the meeting. When asked, Fiifi Boafo, Senior PR Manager at COCOBOD, the Ghanaian Cocoa regulator, said they boycotted the WCF meeting because they did not believe chocolate companies and traders were really interested in the sustainability of the industry.
If you want the farmers to protect the forests and prevent child labour, you cannot pay less for cocoa.
Fiifi Boafo, Senior PR Manager, COCOBOD
Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put commented that it was “a pity” that the countries were absent from the meeting and called for talks to be held on cooperation
However, the Cocoa Civil Society Platform in Ghana and the Plateforme Ivoirienne pour le cacao durable in Côte d’Ivoire welcomed the move.
We believe it is about time the world recognised the double standards of multinational cacao and chocolate industries, especially on cocoa pricing and the deteriorating living conditions of cocoa farmers due to their self-seeking interests and quest to maximise profits without any willingness to distribute profits along the value chain.
Cocoa Civil Society Platform and Plateforme Ivoirienne pour le cacao, in a joint statement
Part of the problem stems from chocolate companies and traders circumventing measures put in place to improve the living conditions of Cocoa farmers. The two governments point to the Living Income Differential (LID) as an example, which was introduced to guarantee a minimum income for Cocoa farmers. Following the introduction of the LID, some traders set a negative differential to country premiums to offset some of the additional cost.
Even more disheartening is the fact that Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are compelled by these multinational companies to sell their cocoa beans below the prevailing market price (discounted prices).
Cocoa Civil Society Platform and Plateforme Ivoirienne pour le cacao, in a joint statement
Earlier this year, in July, countries decided to stop selling Cocoa with a negative country differential.
The industry is trying to get the cocoa as low as possible.
Antonie Fountain, Managing Director of the Voice Network, an umbrella group that covers 17 non-profit organisations
It works well for the companies, traders and consumers. The system was never meant to be fair to the farmers in the first place.
