Côte d’Ivoire isn’t just Africa’s largest cocoa producer—it’s a backbone of the global chocolate industry. Yet beneath the rich aroma and global demand lies a complex mix of climate challenges, deforestation pressures, and farmer livelihoods.
🇨🇮 Cocoa’s Countrywide Impact
- Ivorian farmers produce around 1.8 million tonnes of cocoa annually—though recent seasons fell from 2.3 million tonnes in 2022 to 1.76 in 2023, with around 1.8 MMT forecast for 2024–25 apps.fas.usda.gov.
- Cocoa contributes over 40% of export revenue and nearly 10% of GDP .
- Agriculture overall employs nearly half the working population reuters.com+7fr.wikipedia.org+7cropgpt.ai+7.
⚠️ Facing the Challenges
Despite its global dominance, the cocoa sector grapples with:
- Climate and disease — droughts, erratic rainfall, and swollen-shoot outbreaks slashed output ~40% during the mid-crop season adaptation-undp.org+15reuters.com+15en.wikipedia.org+15reuters.com+2reuters.com+2reuters.com+2.
- Deforestation — nearly 80% of forest loss tied to cocoa expansion unsdg.un.org+15sei.org+15unilever.com+15.
- Low farmer incomes — average farmers earn only ~6% of a chocolate bar’s final value, with persistent poverty linked to illegal farming/practices unilever.com+1reuters.com+1.
- Child labor concerns – ongoing international pressure to enforce ILO protocols and protect children open.unicef.org.
🌍 A Path to Sustainable Growth
Thankfully, Côte d’Ivoire’s government and international partners are tackling these issues head-on:
- Replanting & agroforestry initiatives are underway, supported by FAO, UNDP, and programmes like SCALA to drive climate resilience adaptation-undp.org+1reuters.com+1.
- The Cocoa & Forests Initiative is working to end deforestation and restore forest cover throughout major cocoa landscapes nestlecocoaplan.com+15worldcocoafoundation.org+15undp.org+15.
- EU deforestation regulations push for full traceability and promote eco-certified beans .
- Government support includes subsidies to national cocoa exporters to grown local capacity & compete globally reuters.com+1unilever.com+1.
🏗️ Empire’s Role in Sustainable Cocoa
Combatting systemic issues requires both policy and practice—and that’s exactly where Empire Industries steps in:
- Partnering with farmers to introduce climate-smart practices, training on agroforestry, pruning, and disease management.
- Investing in farmer services: local nurseries, shade trees, tools, and exploration of manual pollination to boost yields sustainably arxiv.org.
- Supporting traceability efforts to ensure our cocoa supply chain meets EU standards and secures premiums.
- Reinvesting profits into rural water systems, schools, clinics, and infrastructure—making the cocoa economy truly serve its communities.
Our agriculture strategy isn’t just about producing cocoa—it’s about building a resilient, equitable sector seeded with dignity, shared prosperity, and environmental stewardship.
📈 What’s Ahead
By 2026, we’re scaling a model of sustainable cocoa innovation that stretches beyond harvesting:
- Expanding agroforestry partnerships to tens of thousands of hectares.
- Launching farmer impact surveys to improve incomes and living conditions.
- Opening rural processing sites to add value and create local jobs.
Because for Empire, agriculture isn’t merely a profit center—it’s a building block for a modern, empowered Côte d’Ivoire.
🤝 Join the Cocoa Transformation
We invite investors, government agencies, NGOs, and private-sector partners to join us in this mission.
Let’s build the cocoa sector of tomorrow—together.
