President John Dramani Mahama has returned to Accra after high-level talks with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan aimed at strengthening cooperation in the cocoa sector and improving farmer livelihoods in both countries.
The Côte d’Ivoire–Ghana summit focused on securing fair and stable cocoa pricing, environmental protection, and increased local processing of cocoa.
The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to align producer prices and strengthen the Living Income Differential to shield farmers from global market volatility.
They also expressed concern over illegal mining and its impact on shared water bodies, agreeing on joint measures to tackle the problem and support environmental restoration.
In addition, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire pledged deeper collaboration on research to combat Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) and other threats to production, while pushing for greater industrialisation of the cocoa sector.
A joint declaration from the summit outlined plans to standardise pricing frameworks, strengthen traceability systems, expand local processing, and open the cocoa alliance to other African producers to boost the continent’s share in the global cocoa value chain.
