The cocoa industry has long suffered from the problem of poverty among small-scale cocoa farmers. It has become an urgent issue for both producing countries and the industry to ensure that these farmers earn a living income.
Project goal
This project aims to foster peer learning and sharing of knowledge about pricing schemes targeting a living income in the cocoa value chain. The project will
- take stock of cocoa pricing schemes aimed at contributing to a living income,
- assess their relevance and soundness based on expert feedback,
- promote a knowledge-sharing network of pricing innovators, and
- disseminate results to multiple audiences in cocoa exporting and importing countries for knowledge-sharing and policy consideration.
Methods
By combining legal and economic analysis, the project will establish interactions and linkages between pricing arrangements at the micro (firm), meso (industry and supply chain), and macro (governmental) levels. The analysis will combine desk research, conceptual analysis, and analysis of empirical data from existing datasets. The research findings will be assessed and refined in the light of feedback from a sounding board of experts.
The project liaises with and builds on activities of CDE’s COMPASS project.
Results
The project analyses and findings are condensed in a working paper titled “Cocoa Pricing for a Living Income: Mechanisms, Regulatory Levers, and Limitations.” This paper aims to enhance understanding of pricing schemes designed to support a living income for cocoa-farming communities. It reviews and synthesizes various pricing mechanisms and explores innovative legal and institutional frameworks to scale these mechanisms at a macro level. By combining insights from micro-level innovations with macro-level regulatory developments, the paper lays the groundwork for creative efforts to harness synergies between private and public governance structures. Read the working paper
