Isis Almeida and Leanne de Bassompierre, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) Nobody is suffering more from a global chocolate standoff than the Ivory Coast cocoa farmer.
Less than two years after the top cocoa producer teamed up with neighboring Ghana to force companies from Hershey Co. to Nestle SA to pay more for their beans, the attempt to exert control over prices is backfiring. Buyers are refusing to pay up, beans are piling in warehouses upcountry and farmers are so desperate that some even slept outside the offices of Ivory Coastâs cocoa regulator demanding action.
âWe have suffered with our cocoa piling up,â said Baba Kampe, a 45-year-old farmer with 8 hectares (20 acres) in Daloa who was among those sleeping outside the regulatorâs offices Monday. âIt has been difficult to feed our children.â
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Nobody is suffering more from a global chocolate standoff than the Ivory Coast cocoa farmer.
Less than two years after the top cocoa producer teamed up with neighboring Ghana to force companies from Hershey Co. to Nestle SA to pay more for their beans, the attempt to exert control over prices is backfiring. Buyers are refusing to pay up, beans are piling in warehouses upcountry and farmers are so desperate that some even slept outside the offices of Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator demanding action.
“We have suffered with our cocoa piling up,” said Baba Kampe, a 45-year-old farmer with 8 hectares (20 acres) in Daloa who was among those sleeping outside the regulator’s offices Monday. “It has been difficult to feed our children.”