Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon have signed the Abuja Declaration, forming an alliance that aims to end the exports of raw cocoa beans.
Under the pact, the nations are aiming to negotiate with
international cocoa buyers as a single bloc controlling about 75 percent of
global production.
The four countries signed the declaration on Tuesday at the
2026 cocoa value addition summit in Abuja.
At the event, governments, financiers and industry players
unveiled plans to shift Africa from exporting raw cocoa beans to processing and
branding finished products.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by Abubakar Kyari, the
minister of agriculture and food security, said Nigeria would end the practice
of exporting raw cocoa while importing finished chocolate products.
“Nigeria will no longer export raw beans while importing
finished value,” the president said.
“We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter
at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home and sell it to
the world on our own terms.”
Tinubu said investors are building a 70,000-tonne cocoa
processing facility in Sagamu, Ogun state, which he described as the largest in
the country’s history.
He said Nigeria’s installed cocoa grinding capacity now
exceeds 120,000 tonnes annually.
The president noted that the Bank of Industry (BOI), which
co-convened the summit, has funding available for viable cocoa projects.
Also speaking, Olasupo Olusi, BOI’s managing director, said
although Nigeria produces more than 300,000 tonnes of cocoa annually, only
about 50,000 tonnes of its installed grinding capacity is currently utilised.
Olusi said BOI disbursed over N164 billion to more than
3,500 agro-processing businesses in 2025 and secured a €60 million credit
facility from the European Investment Bank to support cocoa value addition.
He said the bank would establish dedicated financing windows
for cocoa processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging, and chocolate
production.
“We are not approaching cocoa as a lending programme; we are
building an industrial ecosystem,” Olusi said.
‘BLOC TO PUSH JOINT POSITION ON EU RULES’
John Owan Enoh, minister of state for industry, said the
alliance would help cocoa-producing countries capture a greater share of the
global chocolate market, valued at over $130 billion.
“We are not interested in exporting anonymous sacks anymore.
We are interested in exporting value,” he said.
Enoh said the bloc would adopt a common position on the
European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, which takes effect for large and
medium cocoa operators on December 30, 2026.
He said the countries would seek recognition of their
national traceability systems and oppose passing compliance costs to
smallholder farmers.
The minister said Nigeria also adopted a Cocoa Value
Addition Accord, committing the federal government, cocoa-producing states,
farmer groups, industry associations and development finance institutions to
measurable targets on processing and farmer incomes.
Enoh said a delivery council would oversee implementation
and publish annual progress reports.
Ransford Abbey, the chief executive of the Ghana Cocoa
Board, said Africa produces between 75 and 77 percent of the world’s cocoa but
receives less than 10 percent of the value generated by the global chocolate
industry.
“We do not need charity. We deserve equity. The time has
come for Africa to process its own wealth, protect its farmers and negotiate
with one voice in the global cocoa market,” Abbey said.
He noted that global cocoa prices had fallen sharply after
peaking above $11,000 per tonne in late 2024, forcing Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire
to cut producer prices.
The summit concluded with the adoption of the Abuja
Declaration and the Cocoa Value Addition Accord.
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