CHAPITRE 06The lifeline

The Cocoa Economy

The world's largest cocoa producer

✓ Verified · 1 source

Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest cocoa producer, grown mostly by hundreds of thousands of smallholders in the forest zone. The state sets the farm-gate price through the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC). For decades most beans have been exported to Europe for processing.

Cocoa fuelled the Ivorian miracle and also lit the fuse of crisis: when world prices move, the nation's finances and politics move with them.

CE QUE VOUS VERREZ · What you will see

On the roads west and into the centre, cocoa beans dry by the roadside and trucks pass loaded with sacks, yet supermarkets carry few local premium chocolate brands.

POURQUOI · So what

Cocoa shapes public finances, rural life and migration (many farm workers come from Burkina Faso and Mali), and is tied to international issues such as child labour and deforestation. Making chocolate locally is now seen as a symbol of moving up the value chain.

SAVOIR-FAIRE · How to use it

Cocoa prices and local processing are a safe and substantial topic with business people. A gift of local handmade chocolate for Asian guests is the perfect way to tell this story.

Asian and European parallelsLike sugar in Taiwan's past, or coffee in Ethiopia: one crop shaping a whole country's economy and society.

On these routes

Three Days in the Heart of the Country: Yamoussoukro and Baoulé Land