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.
The smuggling of Ivorian cocoa beans, sold illegally in neighbouring countries such as Guinea and Liberia, represents a major challenge for the authorities. This year, 150,000 tonnes are said to have been exported illegally. This represents a shortfall of almost €400 million for the Ivorian government.
Deforestation on a massive scale
Meanwhile, cocoa farming is the leading cause of deforestation in Ivory Coast: in just 60 years, 90 percent of the forests there have been destroyed. The authorities, as well as multinationals selling chocolate in Europe, could do without this bad reputation.
In particular, the EU plans to ban imports of untraceable cocoa by the end of the year. More and more checks are being carried out to chase farmers out of protected forests. As a result, thousands of them have decided to cross the border and settle in Liberia.
Liberia, the new 'Wild West' for 'brown gold'
Tens of thousands of hectares of untouched forest and an almost total lack of monitoring are turning neighbouring Liberia into the new "Wild West" for cocoa. Some 25,000 farmers from Ivory Coast have already crossed the border, threatening 250,000 hectares of virgin forest with destruction by cocoa cultivation.
Cocoa beans from deforested land in Liberia are then often sold back in Ivory Coast, making the traceability promised by all sides mission impossible.
