ICCO Roundtable Meeting ends in Accra

Accra, Oct. 03, GNA - Participants attending the first International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) Roundtable on sustainable world cocoa economy in Accra have expressed satisfaction with the progress made at the meeting but held that much more needed to be done before the world cocoa economy could be considered sustainable.

Consequently, a further meeting is to be held in 12 months to develop a concrete agenda on the way forward. In action plans adopted at the meeting, the participants agreed to strive for remunerative prices and income for cocoa farmers while reducing exposure to price volatility through price risk management mechanisms.

They also agreed to promote good agricultural practices to increase productivity and quality in a manner that respects both the environment and social standards.

Participants pledged to support research into nutritional health benefits of cocoa and chocolate as well as support research into the social and economic benefits of cocoa.

There was also proposal for sustainability fund to finance initiatives to achieve sustainability in the cocoa economy. Addressing the closing session, Mr. Tony Fofie, Deputy Chief Executive, Ghana Cocoa Board called on producers, governments, traders, processors and manufacturers to co-operate to overcome the challenges to a sustainable world cocoa economy.

"It would take strenuous effort, strong will-power and commitment to formulate and implement various initiatives, programmes and projects to confront the issues involved if we are to make the cocoa industry a clearing house of best practices," he said.

"In doing this, let us remember that we would be contributing our quota to improve the living standards of millions of small-scale farmers in the developing countries as well as others who depend on the cocoa economy as their means of livelihood," Mr Fofie added. The three-day conference on the theme: "Towards a sustainable World Cocoa Economy" was attended by representatives of Cocoa Producing and Consuming countries, farmers, traders, haulers, licensed buying companies and non-governmental agencies.