As the world's top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast faces many challenges – first and foremost the fight against illegal smuggling of this "brown gold". Some cocoa farmers consider the prices set by the state for their beans far too low. They prefer to sell the fruit of their harvest to traffickers, who then resell it across the border in Guinea or Liberia at much more attractive prices. This is a major loss of revenue for the Ivorian government, which also has to deal with the challenges of traceability and deforestation. Our Ivory Coast correspondents Julia Guggenheim and Damien Koffi investigate.
In Ivory Coast, a quarter of the population earns a living thanks to cocoa farming. Some 2 million tonnes of this "brown gold" were produced in 2023 in the country, which is the world's top producer and exporter. Cocoa cultivation represents an important source of revenue for the state.
