This unprecedented decision by the Ivorian authorities should make national players more competitive against the multinationals that dominate the sector.

This is massive and unprecedented support from the Ivorian government for the cocoa sector. The decision was announced on April 22 after the head of state, Alassane Ouattara, signed ordinances containing a massive wider plan of 380 million euros which will be used to support export agricultural crops: cocoa, cashew nuts, coffee, rubber, but also cotton. For the cocoa sector, it is above all a question of avoiding bankruptcies by making the Ivorian players more competitive in the face of the multinationals which dominate the sector. The crops themselves are currently not directly impacted by the pandemic, but exports are likely to fall due to the global economic recession.