The Food and Agriculture Minister, Bryan Acheampong, has assumed the chairmanship of the Côte d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) at the 5th Steering Committee Meeting held in Abidjan.

The Minister who doubles as the Abetifi Constituency Member of Parliament, replaced the Ivorian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani.

The CIGCI is the product of President Nana Akufo-Addo and Ivorian head Alassane Ouattara, to bring pressure to bear on international cocoa buyers and trade houses for a minimum floor price of $2,600 per tonne for cocoa beans produced in the respective countries.

Meetings with stakeholders from trade houses, cocoa purchasing companies, chocolatiers, the World Cocoa Foundation, and the International Cocoa Organisation culminated in a decision to introduce a new trading mechanism with the Living Income Differential (LID), set at $400.00 per tonne, for cocoa sold by both countries starting from the 2020/21 season.

Under the new role, Dr Acheampong is expected to see to the completion and handover of the permanent headquarters of the Initiative in Accra.

He will also see to expanding bloc membership (bringing on board other African cocoa-producing countries), general restructuring of the CIGCI and rolling out the West African Standards for sustainability and cocoa traceability systems.

The Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) was born in March 2018 to improve farmer pay and financially improve the lives of cocoa farmers.

Regarding keeping the local front compliant with best cocoa practices, the CIGCI is also leading the process for the formulation of the West Africa Standards for certification and traceability of cocoa from the subregion.

Commenting on his new role, the Agric Minister promised to utilise his position to further the interests of cocoa producers in particular and the causes of the two countries.

He stated that his position was crucial and aimed to ensure that the dreams of the two presidents were realised.

As the only way to realize the initiative's goal, he tasked the participants with ensuring everyone carried their share of the responsibility for adhering to its rules.

Under his watch as an agriculture minister, Ghana has raised the state-guaranteed cocoa price paid to its farmers by more than 63% to boost income and prevent beans from being smuggled to neighbouring countries.

The increment will see farmers receive 20,943 Ghana cedis ($1,837) per tonne for the new 2023/2024 season, which started in September 2023, compared with 12,800 Ghana cedis they got in 2022.