West Africa’s cocoa sector has seen heightened volatility in recent years, driven by market fluctuations, environmental degradation, and human rights challenges.
Despite cocoa prices reaching record highs, millions of smallholder farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria, the region’s main producers, remain trapped in poverty, according to the Cocoa Barometer 2025, launched on Wednesday, October 9.
The report highlights that while the sector faces serious challenges, there has been some progress, though much remains to be done. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana together produce more than 60 percent of the world’s cocoa, shaping global prices and policy, while Nigeria is emerging as a significant player, projected to produce 350,000 tonnes in the 2024/25 season. Yet, most farmers have not benefited from recent price surges. Forward-selling mechanisms have delayed the effects of higher prices, while yields continue to decline due to aging trees, crop diseases, and erratic rainfall linked to climate change.
The Cocoa Barometer underscores that farmer poverty underpins many sectoral problems, from deforestation to child labor and gender inequality. Paying farmers fairly is not only a moral obligation but also a legal one, strengthened by recent human rights and environmental legislation. However, political resistance in Europe is threatening progress in regulating the sector. Meanwhile, higher prices are driving a production boom, which has already led to deforestation spreading into new regions in West Africa and raises the risk of oversupply and falling prices, as seen in 2016.
Cocoa-growing communities continue to face climate shocks, deforestation, and human rights violations. The report notes that 1.5 million children still work in dangerous conditions in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, while women—who perform most farm labor—remain largely excluded from decision-making and profit-sharing. Farm workers and tenant farmers, crucial to cocoa cultivation, are consistently overlooked in sector discussions, despite being among the most vulnerable.
Governance and policy gaps exacerbate these problems. The report points to weak oversight and the absence of supply management, leaving farmers exposed to volatile markets. A lack of transparency in cocoa sales, including farmgate pricing, continues to limit accountability and trust within the sector.
Yet the 2025 Cocoa Barometer also emphasizes that systemic change is possible. It calls for stronger collaboration among farmers, governments, companies, and civil society. Urgent actions recommended include ensuring a living income for farmers, protecting forests through a global moratorium on deforestation caused by cocoa cultivation, recognizing both women and men as co-decision makers, and implementing transparency and accountability mechanisms throughout the supply chain.
The Cocoa Barometer, published by a consortium of civil society organizations, provides a state-of-sustainability overview of the cocoa sector. It highlights ongoing challenges and progress, offers a long-term perspective on sector developments, and sketches potential future risks.
