President John Dramani Mahama has returned to Accra after a fruitful high-level bilateral meeting with his Ivorian counterpart, President Alassane Ouattara, to secure the cocoa industry’s future and improve farmers’ livelihoods in both nations.
The Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana High-Level Summit on the Future of the Cocoa Economy brought the two leaders together on Tuesday.
The two biggest producers of cocoa reaffirmed their commitment to industrialisation, price stability, and environmental preservation in a historic Joint Declaration signed during the conference.
The farmer must continue to be at the center of all cocoa governance, according to Presidents Mahama and Ouattara, who expressed great pleasure with the Joint Technical Committee’s development.
The leaders emphasised their “special responsibility” to steer the industry toward economic justice, given that both nations contribute for about 60% of worldwide production.
The harmonisation of producer prices and the strengthening of the Living Income Differential (LID) were two major highlights of the discussions.
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire hope to protect farmers from the fluctuations in global market prices by coordinating their marketing plans and price announcements.
Along with discussing environmental risks to agriculture, the two presidents voiced serious concerns about the effects of illicit mining on lakes and other bodies of water.
The leaders decided to work together to drastically cut back on illicit mining, start thorough cleanup efforts for common water sources, and lessen the impact of climate change on food output.
Additionally, Presidents Mahama and Ouattara promised to advance scientific research to fight additional pests including the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD).
Additionally, they pledged to transition from being merely raw bean exporters to industrial centers.
This entails boosting local processing capabilities and promoting cocoa consumption in the African subregion.
In order to strengthen the continent’s collective bargaining power on the international front, the two leaders have expressed a wish to include additional African producer nations in the “Cocoa Alliance,” which is anticipated to grow.
An overview of the Joint Declaration that was approved following the conference and published in Abidjan on June 16, 2026.
1. Implementation of a common framework for determining producer prices and reinforcing market intelligence to ensure fair remuneration for farmers.
2. Recognition of the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) and the African Regional Standards for Sustainable Cocoa (ARS-1000) as vital tools for traceability.
3. Strengthening cooperation between national research institutes to eliminate the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD).
4. A commitment to processing substantial volumes of cocoa locally and promoting intra-African trade in finished cocoa products.
5. Opening the cocoa alliance to other African producers to increase Africa’s share of the global cocoa-chocolate value chain, which currently remains marginal despite the continent producing 80% of the world’s beans.
Source: newsthemegh.com