Cocoa Alliance Pushes for Inclusive Price Mechanism


Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire – Cocoa farmers from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have called for greater collaboration with key stakeholders across the cocoa value chain to ensure fairer prices and more inclusive policy development. This comes on the back of a four-day strategic workshop held from June 15 to 19, 2025, in Yamoussoukro, organized by the Ivorian Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (PICD) and the Ghana Civil-society Cocoa Platform (GCCP).

At the close of the event, the two platforms, under the banner of the African Civil Society Platform for Sustainable Cocoa, issued a joint statement urging closer consultation in setting farm-gate prices and advocating for a review of the price-setting mechanism that currently relies heavily on volatile international markets.

“This is about empowering the farmer,” the statement read. “The current pricing structure is outdated and insufficient. We must decommoditize cocoa and ensure that farmers can earn a living income.”

The Alliance identified four key priority areas: Living Income, Deforestation and Environmental Sustainability, Child Labour, and Good Governance. On living income, the group stressed the need for floor pricing based on the true cost of production and greater local cocoa processing to give cooperatives more autonomy.

In addressing environmental sustainability, the Alliance pledged support for ARS-1000 and the EU deforestation regulation, calling for frameworks that protect farmers from additional compliance costs. Independent monitoring, they emphasized, must be a cornerstone of the sector’s sustainability journey.

On child labour, the platforms pushed for a more nuanced and culturally sensitive approach, urging stronger engagement with civil society and community leaders to tackle the issue effectively.

The Alliance also emphasized the need for good governance and transparency in the sector, advocating for the creation of a high-level Supervisory Council in Côte d’Ivoire, modeled after Ghana’s, to oversee cocoa standards and accountability.



The joint effort marks a significant step toward farmer-led advocacy in West Africa’s cocoa sector, with both PICD and GCCP committing to sustained partnership, capacity building, and knowledge sharing over the next 12 months to achieve tangible progress in the four key areas.

Founded in 2022, the African Civil Society Platform for Sustainable Cocoa continues to elevate the voices of farmers at regional and global stages, including recent contributions at the World Cocoa Conference and Amsterdam Cocoa Weeks.


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