Deledates from four African countries - Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and multinational cocoa industry players have gathered in Accra for a two-day workshop to review the feasibility study on African Cocoa Exchange (AfCX).
The study undertaken by the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) is to explore the feasibility of having a cocoa marketing platform in Africa.
If realised, the AfCX would give Africa, the continent that produces 75 per cent of world cocoa, to have a significant voice in the cocoa pricing space.
Despite being the cocoa producing basket for the world, Africa does not have a pricing platform as it relies on the price determined on the Chicago Mercantile and the London Intercontinental Cocoa Exchanges.
Opening the workshop yesterday, Minister of Agriculture, Mr Brian Acheampong, entreated participants to make the intended Exchange the beginning of a new chapter for cocoa farmers.
Mr Acheampong, MP for Abetifi said the platform should provide the opportunity to change course and revolutionarise the cocoa value chain to benefit the farmers.
According to him, it was time those who produce the cocoa to have a say in determination of the price and not be at the receiving end.
Committing the Ghana Cocoa Board to the Exchange, Mr Acheampong said Ghana government programmes and interventions target all sectors of agriculture which include the Tree Crop Development Authority for the cocoa, shea and cashew industry.
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"All services required for a modernised agriculture sector are being put in place. In fact, we are leaving no stone un-turned in the pursuit of a modernised agriculture sector - one that provides optimal benefits to farmers, sustains profitable and integrated value chains, as well as promotes environmental resilience and social inclusion. We are looking at agriculture 360 degrees."
According to Mr Acheampong, the fundamental conditions necessary for the successful operation of an AfCX could certainly be found in Africa and efforts must be put in place to materialise the establishment of the Exchange.
The Chief Executive of the COCOBOD, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, on his part said the narrative where importers and consumers of cocoa determine the price rather than the producers must change.
"This platform will give us the opportunity for more people to go into the market to determine prices and definitely this could change the pricing regime to give our farmers more," he told the media on the sideline of the opening session of the workshop.
Mr Michel Arrion, the Executive Secretary of the ICCO, said the issue of cocoa price from the African perspective has been neglected for far too long and that now is the time for the producers to make a statement.
As the backbone of the cocoa industry, Mr Arrion said there was the need for Africa to be "price makers than price takers."
