In Ivory Coast they were waiting for the new purchase price of cocoa from farmers, set by the authorities. This was revealed on Monday, September 30 in Abidjan by the Minister of Agriculture. Buyers will have to pay 1,800 CFA francs (2.70 euros) per kilo during the main bean harvesting campaign, from October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. A record amount.
A 20% increase in the so-called “at the farm gate” price, paid to planters, which, however, did not fail to cause disappointment in their ranks. The government had promised them, for several months, that they could benefit of “unconventional way” of the increase in brown gold prices. In April 2024, when a ton of cocoa was selling for about $10,000 on the world market, their anger was contained by a historic 50% increase in the mid-season sales price. Then it went from 1,000 to 1,500 CFA francs (or from 1.50 to 2.20 euros) per kilo.
For Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s leading cocoa producer, the equation is complex between social risk (the sector generates 15% of Côte d’Ivoire’s GDP) and environmental needs. In fact, the country has lost 80% of its forest cover since 1960, largely due to intensive farming. Therefore, the new environmental regulations force the country to accelerate the transformation of its mode of production.
“Burnt houses” in Bouaflé
To the African standard to fight deforestation, which will come into force on 1Ahem In October, the European regulations prohibiting the import of products resulting from deforestation (RDUE) were added. Europe, where 60% of cocoa consumption comes from Ivory Coast and Ghana, plans to implement it from January 1, 2025. To comply, authorities are trying to scare away illegal agricultural activities carried out in classified forests, such as that of Bouaflé, where an “eviction” operation was carried out on September 17.
In this rural commune located in the west of the country, agents of the Ivorian Forestry Development Society (Sodefor), supported by the military, received orders to destroy and evacuate the 42 camps installed in this forest area where several hundred families mainly lived. from the cultivation of cocoa. Results, “burned houses, students deprived of schools, farmers abandoned to their fate, without alternative housing, and just before the start of the cocoa campaign” denounces Thibault Yoro, spokesperson for the agricultural union center of the Ivory Coast.
If he supports the need for these evacuations to preserve the environment, the latter is outraged by a “disproportionate use of violence” and of “Lack of awareness and support for displaced populations”. Given the turmoil caused by this evacuation, the Ivorian Minister of Water and Forests, Laurent Tchagba, finally announced the suspension of the operation on September 22.
“With prefectural authorities and elected officials, we will establish an inventory of affected populations. However, I cannot accept that those who occupy land illegally ask to be reinstated there.” warned the minister, who invites the inhabitants of the 30 fields saved from the first round of destruction to take “the necessary measures to leave the forest”.
Almost 120,000 illegal planters
The “eviction” of Bouaflé is representative of the conundrum of the Ivory Coast government, torn between protecting cocoa farmers and preserving nature. Since 2012, the authorities have committed to strengthening operations aimed at expelling from classified forests and parks those who persist in illegally cultivating their lands. A census by the Ivory Coast coffee and cocoa council, dating from 2020, estimates the number of producers installed in the territory’s 234 protected forests at around 120,000, that is, 12% of Ivorian planters.
The Bouaflé forest has been home to farmers since the 1960s. In 1974, the State declassified part of the area and authorized activities on an area of 15,000 hectares. However, according to the Ministry of Water and Forests, farmers have not respected this delimitation and are gradually consuming the 23,500 protected hectares.
In a press release published on September 27, the agricultural union confederation asked “The EU will postpone the implementation of the EUDR for one year by starting negotiations with the government of Côte d’Ivoire.” He states that cocoa cooperatives are not yet prepared, due to lack of resources, to implement an effective traceability system. According to a study by the Ivorian NGO Initiatives for Community Development and Forest Conservation (IDEF), the investment to adapt a cooperative to European standards would range between 24,000 and 37,000 euros. “Despite the support of public and private partners, cooperatives will always have financial and technical needs that they will have to cover on their own” supports the union.
It also warns of the risk of an increase in violent “evictions” as the deadline imposed by Europe approaches, with the first consequence of the expulsion and precariousness of many families. “It is essential to preserve nature. But I don’t think Europe wants this to come at the cost of a human catastrophe.”concludes Thibault Yoro.
