00:00Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast are counting on losses from the reduced global prices.
00:06These mounds of cocoa beans lie stored in shares in the town of Aboiso in Ivory Coast,
00:12a testimony to an economic crisis facing producers,
00:16as global prices tank affecting local exports and local producers.
00:22We already have stocks of 380 tons, half of which were paid for in cash to the producers.
00:27So when we do our calculations, we end up with losses of €350,000 if we sell the products at
00:34€1.80.
00:37So that's the problem.
00:38Who is ultimately going to cover this shortfall?
00:41If the cooperative decides to shoulder it, it will collapse.
00:45If the exporter decides to shoulder it, they too will really be in trouble.
00:49Their company will even go bankrupt.
00:51So we are indeed facing a real headache.
00:53We don't know what to do.
00:55In Ivory Coast, the government sets the purchase price for growers.
00:59Just before the October presidential election that re-elected Alassane Wattara,
01:03it hit a record $5 per kilo after peaking at the end of 2024.
01:09When we've already started playing and in the middle of the game, they come and change the rules.
01:14That's where there is guarantee funds.
01:17The guarantee funds, madam, could have helped us,
01:20but it could, I believe, have helped the government to caution what we are going through today.
01:26In early March, in an effort to hold the crisis in a sector that accounts for 14% of GDP
01:32and supports 5 million people,
01:34the Evo and Garmin drastically cut the purchase price of cocoa paint to growers to $2.
01:42We've made plans with 4 euros and 27 cents.
01:47There, we are supposed to pay our children's school fees.
01:50With the same amount, we are supposed to pay off hospital loans.
01:53With the same amount, bosses are supposed to pay their laborers.
01:57To avoid problems in the camps, the government just needs to look into it.
02:02Otherwise, we'll end up saying that over 4 euros and 27 cents was just an election campaign ploy.
02:09In general, the cocoa council, which regulates the sector, said it will buy back any unsolved beans.
02:15However, some cooperatives said only 45 of its 380 stored tons had been taken away.
