Abstract
Cocoa is one of the main goods in the world agricultural trade markets, occupying the third position in exports. The paper introduces the cocoa value chain worldwide, its asymmetries, and the supply and value chain specific to the São Tomé and Principe (STP) organic cocoa. It aims to understand this value chain’s internal and external tensions and analyse its potential to be inserted in the international markets. The study uses panel data analysis from the FAOSTAT database. The tensions mentioned are due to the asymmetries of international markets and those regarding the production of organic cocoa in STP. At the level of STP and, despite measures to support organic production as a valuable alternative to the country’s development strategy, imbalances in the value chain persist that compromise the livelihoods of small producers responsible for most of production exported and the sustainability of the ecosystem.
Highlights
Cocoa is one of the main goods in the world agricultural trade markets, occupying the third position in exports (Blare and Useche, 2013; Díaz-Montenegro, 2019; Galarza, 2012). It is mainly concentrated in the tropics, in Africa, which concentrates two thirds of world production and where Côte d'Ivoire is the main country with around 40% of the world production (Voora et al, 2019)
The cocoa value chain is characterized by asymmetric power relations with increasing
This paper aims to characterize the cocoa market and value chain globally and in São Tomé and Principe (STP)
Summary
Cocoa is one of the main goods in the world agricultural trade markets, occupying the third position in exports (Blare and Useche, 2013; Díaz-Montenegro, 2019; Galarza, 2012). Cocoa is produced mainly by hand, by about 5 million households, in more than 50 countries, of which 70% are small farmers, with one and three hectares Even so, they represent more than 80% of the total cocoa available in the markets (Díaz-Montenegro et al, 2018; Voora et al, 2019) and guarantee the livelihood of 40 to 50 million people worldwide (Voora et al, 2019). It is intended to show the main dynamics and challenges that can reduce the asymmetries between the different actors and create value, as a way of reducing poverty and improving the quality of life of small agricultural households In addition to this introduction, the document is structured in six sections. The fifth and last sections present, respectively, the implications for small producers related to the characteristics of the international market and the value chain and the main conclusions and perspectives for the continuity of the research
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