unrest in Ivory Coast

As you may have heard, there was unrest last week in Ivory Coast; one of the two countries where Tony's traceable cocoa beans come from (the second one is Ghana, you knew that). Groups of soldiers revolted in several cities. The soldiers were angry because their bonus, promised by the government in January, had not been paid. At the beginning of this week the news came that an agreement had been reached between the government and the soldiers. Hopefully this will and will remain calm..

What consequences does it have?
First of all, the unrest has an impact on the local population and therefore on the cooperatives we work with. There is a feeling of insecurity and important public places were closed, such as schools and banks. Roadblocks made roads and cities inaccessible. All this resulted in important meetings being canceled, such as a major conference on child labor, organized by the American government.

Two annual meetings of partner cooperatives ECAM and Kapatchiva were also postponed, which Team Tony's would have attended this week. Because we were unable to attend the conference and due to safety concerns, we unfortunately had to cancel our visit to Ivory Coast.

Annual meetings
The annual meetings are very important for the farmers and for us, because these are the special moments in the year when we all come together. The highlight was the ceremonial presentation of the Tony's premium (this year more than 550,000 euros for Kapatchiva) in the form of a check. The unrest has no impact on the payment of the premium, although we would of course have liked to hand over the check personally last Wednesday. So we'll have to wait a little longer for a date for the next AGM (that is, the annual meeting).

Last year at the annual meeting of partner cooperative Kapatchiva.

Serious about people
This kind of unrest leads to reputational damage for Ivory Coast and its residents. It also affects the cocoa price and therefore the country's economy. Tony's does not shy away from this. We consciously choose cocoa from Ghana and Ivory Coast, because that is where the problems in the cocoa industry are greatest and where we can make a difference. Because we are crazy about chocolate, serious about people.

With this week's agreement, we hope that things will remain calm in Ivory Coast. For everyone.