COMMODITIES: UN Approves New Accord on World Cocoa Co-operation

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Mar 3 2001 (IPS) - The United Nations Cocoa Conference adopted a new international agreement Friday that will regulate the market for this basic commodity, grown in countries of the developing South, though largely processed in the industrialised North.

The most important aspect of the International Cocoa Agreement 2001 is the inclusion of the private sector, which is to have a place on the consultative board for the world cocoa economy.

With trade liberalisation and globalisation, the private sector takes on an ever-greater role, explained Edouard Kouamé, director of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).

The new accord also differs from the previous cocoa agreement in that it promotes the sustainable management of cocoa resources in order to provide greater economic yields for all parties involved, Kouamé explained.

The sustainable cocoa economy should take into account the lot of the farmers, ensuring that they achieve greater yields through access to agricultural techniques that exist, but are so far not applied, he said during the meeting this week under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Cocoa growers are concentrated in the Ivory Coast where, during the 2000-2001 growing season, they produced 41 percent of world output, followed by Indonesia, with 15 percent, Ghana (14), Nigeria (6) and Brazil, with four percent.

The sustainable nature of the new production methods will be reflected in a crop that is more closely linked to the principles of environmental conservation, according to Kouamé.

Cacao is produced through a cultivation shift system, meaning that after 15 to 30 years, farmers abandon their cocoa plots and cultivate new plants in other forested areas, which provide the necessary shade.

This traditional technique devastates the forests, but with the new cocoa agreement, farmers would be encouraged to remain on the same parcel of land, assured the head of the ICCO, the organisation that is to monitor the implementation of the international accord.

With a sustainable economy, possibilities will arise for farmers to “increase their income through greater participation in the marketing chain,” affirmed Kouamé.

Farmer access to the first stage of cocoa bean processing will allow them to participate in the added value of their product.

Lambert N’Guessan, of the Ivory Coast and spokesman for the cocoa producing countries, expressed satisfaction with the agreement reached this week.

But he pointed out that the accord is based on largely moral foundations and indicated he is concerned about how this moral commitment will be translated into action.

The draft text of the agreement, distributed Friday, states that exporting countries must confront the imbalances in the market by coordinating their national policies for cocoa production.

The document, however, does not mention any responsibility for the importing countries, which are headed by the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain.

N’Guessan commented that the association of producers and private sectors in consumer nations should operate in a manner such that “those who have the means assist those who lack them.”

In this way, they should be able to obtain a high-quality product, he affirmed, confident that this collaboration would translate into a transfer of technology towards developing countries.

The new agreement commits member countries to promote consumption of chocolate and of other cocoa-based products as a means to fuel demand by all means possible.

One article of the accord, which initially met resistance from importing countries, declares that the use of substitutes will hurt the expansion of cocoa consumption and the development of a sustainable cocoa economy.

In that respect, NoGuessan criticised the decision taken by the European Union to authorise the addition of five percent vegetable oil to cocoa butter for the production of chocolate.

Industry analysts indicate that this would lead to a decline in demand for cocoa, he said.

The agreement establishes that a consultative board, made up of cocoa-related experts, “including trade and industry associations, national and regional cocoa producer and exporter organisations, and cocoa research institutes,” will advise the International Cocoa Organisation.