Farmers do not have access to the global market, and they also have to bear the high costs of production, Nicolas Agbohou, University Professor and Doctor of Political Science, explained to Sputnik Africa.
One of the main problems, he said, is the lack of industrialization and processing of raw materials on site.
"Africans must have the audacity to ban—I insist on the word ban—the sale of raw materials such as cocoa," the professor stressed.
According to Agbohou, the EU's deforestation law is negatively impacting the cocoa sector, with Europeans prioritizing their interests over those of Africans, as evidenced by Europe relocating its production to Asia rather than Africa.
"Between Europe and Africa, it is fourteen kilometers. But since these Europeans do not want Africans to get out of the socio-economic rut, they leave Africa there, especially sub-Saharan Africa, and they go to Asia," he stated.
The cocoa prices more than doubled last year, hitting a record $12,931 per tonne on December 18, fueled by the largest 60-year deficit in the 2023/2024 crop year, according to the ING, a global financial institution.