Mahama and Ouattara Sign New Cocoa Pact in Abidjan to Protect Farmers | Discuss Ghana

The world's two largest cocoa producers have formed a united front to seize control of the global chocolate supply chain. Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama and Côte d’Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara have signed a groundbreaking joint declaration aimed at fighting price volatility, illegal mining (galamsey), and unfair global markets.

The high-level agreement, shared publicly by Ghana's Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, was finalized during a high-stakes summit in Abidjan. Together, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire control roughly 60% of the world’s cocoa production, giving them massive collective bargaining power to force international chocolate brands to pay farmers a fair living wage.

Key Decisions from the Abidjan Summit

The historic agreement establishes a rigid framework to rewrite the economic rules governing West African agriculture:

Unified Price Announcements: The two nations will officially harmonize their farm-gate prices and crop-season calendars. This prevents international buyers from playing one country against the other to force prices down.

Expanding Africa's Bargaining Power: The leaders agreed to expand the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) to other African nations, aiming to unite 80% of global production under a single, OPEC-style cocoa bloc.

Fighting the "Galamsey" Threat: The declaration directly highlights illegal gold mining and climate change as major national security threats that are aggressively destroying fertile cocoa farmlands and water bodies.

THE GLOBAL COCOA VALUE IMBALANCE:
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐      ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          AFRICAN PRODUCTION METRIC     │      │          GLOBAL VALUE CAPTURE          │
├────────────────────────────────────────┤      ├────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Volume: Côte d'Ivoire & Ghana supply │  ──  │ • The Reality: Africa captures only a  │
│   60% of all global cocoa beans        │  ──  │   tiny fraction of the chocolate profits│
│ • Total Africa Market Share: 80% of    │      │ • Solution: Expanding local processing │
│   the raw materials for the industry   │      │   and boosting continental consumption │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘      └────────────────────────────────────────┘