Cocoa
Cocoa farmers produce over four million tons of cocoa beans per year. The biggest cocoa producers are Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, accounting for two thirds of the worldwide cocoa production, with the largest share of cocoa beans – almost 40% – being processed in Europe. Up to 95% of cocoa beans are traded on global commodity markets.
However, the cocoa market is prone to market trends and fluctuations driven by political instability, weather-related production deficits, climate threats and overproduction. Farmers struggle to earn a living income. ITC is working with cocoa farmers in West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone), Central Africa (Cameroon, Guinea), East Africa (Uganda) and the Caribbean (Jamaica, Dominican Republic) to help them raise and diversify their incomes.
Ending child labour, ensuring a living income for farmers and protecting the environment with sustainable farming and processing practices are some of the main priorities in our sector work. We also work with cocoa processors and chocolatiers to improve competitivity and market access and promote value addition and regional trade.
We strengthen alliances along the production line, from bean to bar, fostering entrepreneurship and better market access
At the production level, we:
- Help maintain biodiversity
- Enhance food security
- Protect natural resources
- Enable carbon capture
- Improve soil management
- Diversify cropping systems
- Train on good harvest and post-harvest practices
- Train on old plantation rehabilitation
- Help digitize the cocoa supply chain
- Support on governance and market access for farmer cooperatives
At the processing level, we:
- Provide Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety training and lab facility assessments
- Work on chocolate recipe adaptation, value addition and product development
- Train on good post-harvest practices at the processing unit
- Train on quality control in chocolate-making
At the trade level, we:
- Facilitate commercial alliances for market linkages for sales of cocoa and cocoa derived products
- Participate in international trade shows
- Train on sample preparation, documentation and tastings
- Support on contracts and logistics
- Support on private voluntary standard certification management
To support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) at a global level, we:
- Contribute to thought leadership at national and international levels on best practices in cocoa value chain development from farm to table
- Facilitate commercial partnerships with international buyers
- Participate in major sector events and trade fairs
- Facilitate Cost Benefit Analysis and Policy Analysis
- Promote cocoa export and capacity building on quality
- Inform on food safety management for the cocoa sector
- Support access to finance and investment
