(4 minutes read)
· Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast are agitated. The prices have crashed second year consecutively making their lives miserable compounded by the adverse impact of the pandemic
· Farmers who have switched over to organic cocoa farming are not facing the brunt of the price fall
· The chocolate made from the organic cocoa is sold in French supermarkets are highly priced and still a hot favorite of the French, who are believed to be connoisseurs of chocolate
· That ,in turn, help the farmers higher prices for the cocoa
Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast are agitated. The prices have crashed second year consecutively making their lives miserable compounded by the adverse impact of the pandemic. Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest producer of the crop and thousands of farmers are dependent on this crop for their livelihood.
But there are exceptions to the rule. Farmers who have switched over to organic cocoa farming are not facing the brunt of the price fall. In M’Brimbo, a village in Central Ivory Coast became a test bed for organic farming some 11 years ago. Farmers in the village could sell high quality organic Cocoa at twice the market rate of non-organic cocoa. The chocolate made from the organic cocoa sold in French supermarkets is highly priced and still a hot favorite of the French, who are believed to be connoisseurs of chocolate. That ,in turn, help the farmers higher prices for the cocoa.
The entire yield of the organic Cocoa is taken by the chocolate companies. Last year, the village farmers harvested close to 280 tonnes. Of that, a bulk of the produce would be bought by the chocolate manufacturers.
Cocoa is the mainstay of the country’s economy. The West African country produces two million tonnes of cocoa per year, equivalent to more than 40% of the world’s market. But there are flip sides to this development. Forests have been cleared for Cocoa cultivation. This has led to environmental degradation. In some places, herbicides and pesticides have tainted the soil.
Organic cocoa farming has changed the landscape of some of the villages .For instance, in the Northern Ivory Coast produced 13 tonnes of cocoa with 33 farmers in 2010. This year, it is expected to produce more than 200 tonnes, with 264 growers. Ten other cooperatives in Ivory Coast are now producing organic cocoa. It is expected in the coming days there will be more farmers and cooperatives coming with organic farming.
