Paving the Way for Premium-Quality Chocolate Production in Cote d’Ivoire
Marc Steen, Chief of Party (COP) for the USDA Food for Progress-funded Maximizing Opportunities in Cocoa Activity (MOCA) implemented by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), an international agricultural development organization, discusses the future of fine / quality-flavor cacao in Côte d’Ivoire.
Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s №1 cacao-producing country, producing roughly one-third[1] of the total amount of cacao beans worldwide. It is the country’s largest export.
While an estimated 3.6 million people work in cacao production, the 600,000 smallholder farmers who grow the beans average only $1.27 per kilogram[2] for their product — far short of the $2.51 per kilo that constitutes a minimum living income[3] if depending on those earnings alone.
Cacao farmers earn an average income from cacao production of about $2,254 per year[4]. Most are members of cooperatives, of which the majority receive premiums and/or production support from exporters, chocolatiers and cooperatives.
But prices have been trending downward over the past decade, partly due to increased production. In mid-2017, for example, the increased production pressured prices down 30 percent. As a result, Ivorian producers got the lowest prices worldwide for their cacao, pushing many farmers and cacao workers further into poverty.
Côte d’Ivoire’s farmers can generate greater income without producing more cacao — by adding value to the beans they do produce.
About eight[5] percent of the global market deals with fine or quality-flavor cacao, which can receive premiums of up to 100 percent on top of the prices for conventional cacao beans.
The market for premium-quality chocolate and chocolate products made with this quality-flavor cacao grows at an estimated seven percent to 10 percent per year[6] — twice as fast as the bulk chocolate market. Currently, Côte d’Ivoire is not — or is just barely — represented in the quality-flavor cacao market. But if its share of that market were proportionate to its share of global cacao production, Côte d’Ivoire would own 45 percent of the fine flavor market.
Côte d’Ivoire’s absence from this lucrative premium market is largely due to its reputation for bulk cacao, so chocolate-makers do not seek high-quality beans from the country. Many premium chocolate producers also are reluctant to buy from Côte d’Ivoire because its bulk production does not encourage traceability and direct contact between producers and chocolate-makers. Consequently, almost all Ivorian cacao ends up being sold on the bulk market — with no price differentiation for higher-quality beans.
But Ivorian growers of high-quality beans do exist. In fact, three Ivorian producers and cooperatives ranked in the 50 best producers from among those who submitted bean samples for the 2019 Cocoa of Excellence Programme’s International Cocoa Award, proving that some Ivorian cacao does have a valuable and unique flavor profile.
The Maximizing Opportunities in Cocoa Activity (MOCA), a development initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Progress program and implemented in Côte d’Ivoire by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture, is working to bring Ivorian farmers into the more lucrative quality-flavor market.
MOCA focuses on helping farmers and other actors in the cocoa value chain improve cocoa quality and production, and increase incomes. Working with U.S. chocolate-makers and the Ivorian government, MOCA will initiate a quality-flavor cacao production strategy and further invest in quality-flavor cacao production and marketing.
The strategy can be a game changer for Côte d’Ivoire’s image. MOCA has partnered with the Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA) to promote Côte d’Ivoire as a future quality-flavor cacao producer and exporter, and six FCIA members have confirmed their interest to participate in the initiative. MOCA also collaborates with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s African Cocoa Initiative (ACI) II project, implemented by the World Cocoa Foundation. ACI II supports the creation of the first Ivorian quality-flavor testing lab, which will establish the Ivorian cacao flavor profile and assure local quality control.
MOCA is working with three cooperatives who seek to improve cacao quality in order to break into the lucrative higher-value market — and will continue to work with the cooperatives, their members and partner chocolate-makers to develop consistent quality-flavor cacao, improve traceability and facilitate exports.
MOCA aims to help Côte d’Ivoire increase the value of cacao and the availability of quality-flavor Ivorian cacao in the U.S. quality-flavor and bean-to-bar chocolate market by setting up new supply lines — and strengthening existing ones — to four U.S. makers of high-quality chocolate.
This is a major step toward improving the income and trade opportunities of the 600,000 smallholder farmers responsible for producing the largest share of the world’s cacao supply — and a classic case of quality over quantity.
[1] Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics. (ICCO, 2018/2019), Vol. XLV, №3.
[2] Maximizing Opportunities in Cocoa Activity Baseline Report. (Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, 2019).
[3] Cocoa barometer 2018, Antonie Fountain, Friedel Huetz-Adams
[4] Baseline report MOCA Côte d’Ivoire, 2019, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam
[5] ICCO, 2014
[6] International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) as cited in Packaged Facts, Mintel research, Nestlé, Team analysis. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.icco.org/about-us/international-cocoa-agreements/cat_view/290-world-cocoa-conference-2016-bavaro/291-presentations-world-cocoa-conference-bavaro-2016/293-fine-and-flavour-cocoa-forum-at-wcc3.html.
