WCFP meeting: We support government's decision to boycott – Ghana, Ivorian CSOs cocoa platform

Civil Society organisations (CSO) platforms, the cocoa Plateforme Ivoirienne pour le cacao durable and the Ghana Civil-society Cocoa Platform, have commended the governments of both Ghana and Ivory Coast for boycotting the upcoming World Cocoa Foundation Partners meeting. The Plateforme Ivoirienne pour le cacao durable and the Ghana Civil-society, comprising of farmers, farmer-based organisations, cocoa cooperatives, small-scale processors, media and CSOs working in the cocoa sector commended the two governments for the decision to boycott the meeting scheduled to take place from Wednesday, 26, to Thursday, 27 October 2022, in Brussels. A statement by the CSOs, issued on Monday, 24 October 2022, said: “We may not always align with COCOBOD and CCC’s decisions, but we fully support this action and the reasons provided for the boycott.” The statement noted that: “Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana account for 65 per cent of global cocoa production, but farmers in these two countries earn less than 6 per cent of the chocolate industry’s total revenue valued at about US$130 billion per annum.” While “new studies have shown that the share of cocoa growers in the overall chocolate industry has drastically reduced over the years as traders, brands and retailers have accumulated super profits. “For example, according to Fairtrade, when cocoa prices were high in the 1970s, cocoa growers were earning up to 50 per cent of the value of a chocolate bar. “This fell to 16 per cent in the 1980s and today, farmers receive around 6 per cent of the value. This has led to high levels of poverty and hardship for cocoa growers in two of the largest cocoa producing countries in the world.” Both platforms indicated that: “Today, producers are not living, they are only surviving.” They continued that: “By boycotting this flagship gathering of the private sector in Brussels, the governments of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana are sending a strong signal, but it is also a cry from the heart. The issue of cocoa pricing must be put at the center of the discussion on cocoa sustainability.” They added: “We fully support this position and hope that the world will take notice and denounce the private sector for their nefarious and unfair cocoa pricing practices.”