The Ivorian Government has retained the farmgate price of cocoa at 1,200 CFA francs, about 2.12 dollars, per kilogram for the main harvest season.
The Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Nabagne Kone, announced that the government would maintain the same price set in March for the mid-crop season, following months of crisis in the cocoa sector.
“It has been decided that a kilogram of well-fermented, well-dried, well-sorted cocoa will be purchased at the farmgate price of 1,200 francs per kilo,” Kone said.
The decision has disappointed farmers who had expected an increase in the price.
One cocoa grower, Thibaut Yoro, said farmers had hoped the price would rise to between 1,800 and 2,000 CFA francs per kilogram.
“We were expecting the farmgate price to go back up a bit, either to 2,000 or to 1,800; that was the hope. Unfortunately, it’s still stuck at 1,200,” Yoro said.
Ivory Coast, the world’s leading cocoa producer, cut the price paid to farmers by nearly 60 per cent in March in response to a sales slump affecting the sector.
The cocoa industry contributes about 14 per cent to the West African country’s gross domestic product, with around five million people depending on it for their livelihoods.
In October, ahead of his re-election, President Alassane Ouattara announced a record farmgate price of 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram.
However, global cocoa prices, which surged in 2024 before beginning to decline in 2025, have fallen sharply this year, leaving Ivorian cocoa significantly more expensive than prevailing world market prices.
Africanews/Shakirat Sadiq
