Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have reaffirmed their commitment to transforming the global cocoa industry, with Presidents John Dramani Mahama and Alassane Ouattara agreeing on a new roadmap aimed at improving farmer incomes, strengthening regional cooperation and increasing Africa’s share of value in the cocoa-chocolate supply chain.
The renewed commitment was made during the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana High-Level Summit on the Future of the Cocoa Economy held in Abidjan on June 16, 2026. At the summit, the two leaders emphasized the need to place cocoa farmers at the centre of sector governance and value-sharing, building on the foundations of the Abidjan Declaration signed in 2018.
Recognising that Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire together account for about 60 per cent of global cocoa production, the two countries pledged to deepen collaboration to address persistent challenges facing the sector, including price volatility, illegal mining, climate change, cocoa substitutes and increasingly stringent international sustainability requirements.
The summit also reviewed progress made through joint initiatives such as the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI), the implementation of the Living Income Differential (LID), harmonised producer price announcements, cocoa traceability systems and coordinated efforts to combat Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease.
As part of the new agreement, the two countries committed to harmonising farm-gate pricing policies to improve producer remuneration, stabilise markets and strengthen commercial cooperation. They also pledged to ensure fair and decent incomes for cocoa farmers while positioning them at the heart of the cocoa value chain.
The declaration further outlines plans to intensify scientific cooperation on cocoa disease management, particularly efforts to tackle Swollen Shoot disease, while boosting local processing capacity and encouraging regional trade and consumption of cocoa-based products.
A major highlight of the agreement is the decision to expand the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative to other African cocoa-producing countries. The move is expected to strengthen collective bargaining power on global markets, harmonise sector policies across the continent and improve coordination in responding to emerging challenges within the cocoa economy.
The two leaders noted that although Africa produces roughly 80 per cent of the world’s cocoa, the continent continues to capture only a small fraction of the value generated by the global cocoa and chocolate industry. They stressed that increasing local value addition and ensuring fair compensation for farmers are critical to the long-term sustainability of the sector and the economic wellbeing of cocoa-growing communities.
The joint declaration marks a renewed effort by the world’s two largest cocoa-producing nations to shape the future of the industry and secure a more equitable share of benefits for African producers.
