Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are set to launch a regional alliance aimed at transforming Africa’s role in the global cocoa industry by increasing local processing, coordinating market positions and strengthening their collective bargaining power in international trade.
The four countries, which together produce about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, are expected to sign the Abuja Declaration at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja on Tuesday, establishing a Cocoa Value Addition Alliance to promote value addition at origin and coordinate engagement with global buyers and regulators.
The move marks one of the most ambitious attempts by Africa’s leading cocoa producers to capture a greater share of the industry’s value chain, which has historically been dominated by multinational processors and chocolate manufacturers in Europe and North America despite cocoa being grown largely in West and Central Africa.
According to a statement issued on Friday by Odenke Ibiang, Special Assistant, Media, Office of the Minister of State for Industry, the alliance will serve as a platform for member countries to negotiate, develop common standards and engage international markets as a unified bloc.
