Africa produces about 75 percent of the world’s cocoa though Africa gets just 5 percent of the $100 billion annual chocolate market value. CNN anchor Richard Quest visited Côte d'Ivoire and made a startling revelation: most cocoa farmers he talked to had never even tasted chocolate.
Africa has been unable to extract a larger share of the global chocolate market value because it exports just raw cocoa beans. “Africa is stuck at the bottom of the cocoa value chain, dominated, instead of dominating, despite being the leading producer!” exclaims Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank. He says: “African farmers sweat, while other eat sweets. While the price of cocoa has hit an all-time low, profits of global manufacturers of chocolate have hit an all-time high. It's time to process Africa's cocoa in Africa, and end Africa being at the bottom of global value chains. Africa must not be locked at the bottom…it must rapidly add value to what it leads the world in producing”, says Mr. Adesina, adding that “it is time for Africa to move to the top of the global food value chains, through agro-industrialization and adding value to all of what it produces”.
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