Event preview: World Cocoa Farmers Conference
Cocoa farmers call for consensus on sustainable income
The conference – organized by the World Cocoa Farmers Organization (WCFO) – aims to reach agreement that includes the farmers’ perspective.
The event takes place at the Grand Hotel in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 25-26 September.
It comes as Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire last month agreed a ‘living income differential’ - a $400 premium per ton on cocoa contracts for the 2020/21 season to support farmer livelihoods.
Low incomes an ‘obstacle’ to sustainable cocoa
WCFO said in a press release that low farmer income had been “a major set-back to the cocoa sector, and a critical obstacle towards realising a balanced, transparent and a sustainable cocoa sector.”
It called for a dialogue on income that includes farmer participation.
Barry Callebaut and French Development Agency (AFD) said in 2017 cocoa farmer income in Côte d’Ivoire was 568 West African francs (CFA) per day ($0.98), in 2017, based on a survey in 2013/14 of around 700 cocoa farmers.
The income level is 48% less than the World Bank’s international extreme poverty line ($1.90 per person a day).
Allain Brou, deputy coordinator of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) in Côte d'Ivoire, is among the speakers at the event.
Lumina Intelligence Sustainability analyst Oliver Nieburg will moderate the conference.
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