According to research conducted by a conservation group, farmers in Liberia are clearing forests to establish cocoa plantations and trafficking the beans into neighboring Ivory Coast, posing a challenge to European efforts aimed at curbing deforestation. An upcoming law approved by the European Union, set to take effect at the end of this year, is designed to prevent agricultural commodities associated with deforestation from entering the European market. While the regulation encompasses products such as coffee, beef, and soy, cocoa is regarded as an early litmus test for the law, requiring companies to demonstrate that their supply chains do not contribute to forest destruction.
As attention has been directed towards tracing supply chains in leading cocoa exporting countries, it has been observed that farmers from Ivory Coast are migrating across the border into Liberia in search of land for cocoa cultivation. Bakary Traore, the executive director of Ivorian forest conservation group IDEF, expressed concerns about the escalating flow of cocoa farmers from Ivory Coast into Liberia, emphasizing the potential for a replication of the widespread cocoa-driven clearances that have significantly depleted forest cover in Ivory Coast.
Despite being the world’s leading cocoa producer, Ivory Coast’s cocoa sector is confronted with various challenges, including climate change, aging tree stocks, and disease, which collectively pose a risk of long-term production decline.