Anger brews in Ivory Coast over unsold cocoa

Cocoa beans dried on tarps in the sun in Aboisso town square in southeastern Ivory Coast before being returned to the warehouse where they had already spent several damp months, symbolising the crisis in the world's top cocoa producer.

In Ivory Coast, the purchase price paid to growers is set by the state. In early October, just before the presidential election that saw Alassane Ouattara re-elected, it reached 2,800 CFA francs (nearly five dollars) per kilo -- an unprecedented level.

But after peaking at the end of 2024, global cocoa prices began to slide in the summer of 2025, mainly due to the return of abundant production after years of shortages, and the Ivorian purchase price became too high.

Exports slowed, stocks piled up in the warehouses of agricultural cooperatives -- middlemen between producers and exporters operating like consignment depots -— and many growers were not paid.

In early March, in an effort to halt the crisis in a sector that accounts for 14 percent of GDP and supports five million people, the Ivorian government drastically cut the purchase price of cocoa paid to growers, to 1,200 CFA francs .

A few weeks after this decision, in the warehouses of Aboisso, the beans continue to deteriorate from prolonged exposure to tropical humidity.

"We have to, from time to time, expose them to the sun to limit the damage. Otherwise, the mould gets into the product and we won't know where to sell it," Dongo Yao Kra, 49, told AFP.

He is president of the Socoopagos cooperative, which works with around 2,300 growers in the Sud-Comoe region.

"The more time we waste, the more quality we lose," Yao Kra said.

Part of the stock was harvested before the price cut and the cooperative must still honour the previously locked-in price of 2,800 CFA francs a kilo.

"It's a real headache," complained Yao Kra, who calculated the total -- and unfeasible -- cost his cooperative faced was 230 million CFA francs.

'Deserve to be respected'

A crisis meeting called by the cooperative last week gathered around 50 cocoa growers in Songan, a village three hours by dirt road north of Aboisso.

Heated exchanges in French and the local Maninka language erupted, especially over the timing of the price cut.

Cocoa prices, set by the government twice a year, can end up being much more than world prices. By Sia KAMBOU (AFP)

"It's as if they stopped a football match halfway through to change the rules," fumed father-of-five Antoine Ouattara Sie Kouabou, 54, who is still waiting for what he's owed for his 830 kilos of cocoa beans.

Some growers worry about returning to their fields where the labourers they normally employ are also waiting for their pay.

In January, the Coffee Cocoa Council, which regulates the sector, said it would buy back any unsold beans. However, the Socoopagos cooperative said only 45 out of its 380 stored tonnes had been taken away.

Others grumble that a government promise to guarantee prices in hard times using a Cocoa Council reserve fund had not been kept.

"It's a scam, they deceived us," charged Dolford Diby, 55, who is only getting by because he also has a rubber plantation and is involved in pig farming.

"This country is built on agriculture; we deserve to be respected," he added.

'Up to the state'

"Would you agree to be paid 1,200 CFA francs?" ventured a cooperative member to the agitated growers, referring to the still unsold pre-March produce.

Frowns and groans met the suggestion. "No!" one said resolutely, standing up. "We don't agree," said another, waving a receipt that says he is owed the 2,800 CFA franc rate.

Cocoa exports from Ivory Coast have slowed since late last year, mainly because of a collapse in world prices. By Sia KAMBOU (AFP)

Similar grumbles and rebukes have been heard in Duekoue in the west of the country, grower and trade unionist Yao Yao told AFP.

"It's up to the state to take matters into its own hands or the exporters," he said.

Last week, Obed Blonde Doua, vice president of the Coffee-Cocoa Interprofessional Organisation, told reporters that between 57,000 and 60,000 tonnes of cocoa still lay unclaimed out of the 100,000-tonne backlog that had been inventoried in cooperative warehouses.

The Coffee Cocoa Council did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

"Let's make sure that producers can earn the 2,800 CFA francs on the remaining stock," urged Blonde Doua, "so that the social climate can be peaceful."