Abidjan, Jan 22, 2022 (AIP)- Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are at work, within the framework of the 2nd meeting of the steering committee of the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana cocoa initiative held on Friday, January 21, 2022 in Accra, to boost cocoa production for the benefit of producers.

For the Ivorian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, “these periodic meetings should make it possible to revitalize the cocoa sector through inclusive approaches beneficial to all actors in the chain, more specifically the most vulnerable producers. ”.

This shared vision must allow the taking into account of all the determining factors that impact the income of producers, he added, while pleading for control of the production of the two countries in conjunction with the international market. “In this context, the means of controlling our production seem to be easier, but the international market is far from being mastered in view of the many fluctuations and constraints imposed on us by our external partners”, declared Minister of State Kouassi. Adjoumani.

Efficient control of cocoa production in the two countries requires the building of “a strong institution based on multidisciplinary skills to lead the initiative” and that there is an “effective functioning of the organs of the initiative”, according to the minister. Adjoumani who wished that “the two States organize themselves, through the initiative, to highlight the efforts of their governments and present the real and updated facts of child labor and deforestation in our respective countries”.

Cocoa-culture is singled out as the main crop responsible for deforestation in these countries, we note.

The 2nd meeting of the steering committee aimed to validate the updated governance documents (staff statutes and rules, administrative rules, financial rules), the appointment of professional class staff, approve the appointment of presidents and vice- presidents of the technical committees, validate the program of activities of the initiative for the current campaign, and analyze the extension of the initiative to other African countries, in particular Cameroon and Nigeria.

The first meeting, held in Accra on August 5, 2021, enabled the signing of the Headquarters Agreement, the adoption of the Initiative’s logo and the adoption of the staff salary grid.

The steering committee is the supreme body of the initiative. It is composed of the technical minister in charge of cocoa in the member countries or his duly authorized representative, the general manager or the executive director (as the case may be) of the institution in charge of managing the sector or his duly authorized representative.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse