Joseph Boahen Aidoo
THE SECOND ordinary meeting of the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative Steering Committee took place in Accra on Friday in the presence of the Ministers of Agriculture from both countries.
It was also attended by Yves Brahima Koné, Managing Director of the Conseil Café Cacao (CCC) and Joseph Boahene Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD.
The agenda of the meeting focused on a presentation by Alex Assanvo, Executive Secretary of the Cocoa Initiative, on the progress of the establishment of the new organisation with key points being the presentation and validation of the strategic vision, the approval of the international staff and the establishment of the organs of the institution.
According to Mr Assanvo, the strategic vision of the initiative gives a central place to the producer and his income. “It makes the price obtained by the producer the key variable in the sustainability equation.”
Two years after the idea of the Living Income Differential (LID) was proposed, it confirms the relevance of supporting producer incomes through direction action on field prices.
This strategy calls for the creation of an economic pact, which in line with the LID, affirms the political ambition of agreeing among stakeholders on a minimum export price trajectory, without which no decent field price trajectory can be envisaged.
“This pact, as proposed by the Executive Secretary, responds to the vision of the Heads of State of the initiative’s member countries. “IT embodies the ambition to join forces with the two largest producing countries in order to shape the future of a sector that has been subject to market forces for too long without taking into account the fundamental rights of producers.
“Sustainable and remunerative cocoa is not the cocoa of today. This move upmarket has a price – a minimum price on which stakeholders must agree and to which they must commit and be accountable,” a statement from COCOBOD noted.
A business desk report