Living income for cocoa producers in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire

One of the objectives of the Belgian "Beyond Chocolate" partnership is to achieve a "living income" for cocoa producers by 2030. Here are the latest studies on living income for cocoa producers in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Around the world, it's the methodology first developed for the ILO by Richard and Martha Anker (Anker methodology) that is used to calculate a living wage.  In July 2018, the Living Income Community of Practice, co-hosted by GIZ, ISEAL and the Sustainable Food Lab and the GIZ Programme “Sustainable Supply Chains and Standards” produced “Considerations for the use of the Anker methodology for calculating living wages to inform living income estimates.”

The Living Income Community of Practice calculates ‘Living Income’ Benchmarks for the cocoa producing regions in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The Living Income Benchmark studies estimate the net income required for a decent standard of living for a typical family in these regions.

Ghana

The study “Analysis of the income gap of cocoa producing households in Ghana” (KIT) estimates a Living Income Benchmark in rural cocoa growing areas of Ghana to be GHS 21,100 (USD 4,742) per year for a typical male-headed household (up to 4 ha of productive land) of 3.5 adults and 2.5 children. Female-headed households of 3 adults and 2 children have a Benchmark of GHS 17,806 (USD 4,001) per year. Male-headed households with large land size (more than 4 ha of productive land) composed of 3.5 adults and 3 children have a Benchmark of GHS 22,799 (USD 5,123) per year.

The study “Living Income Report Rural Ghana” (University of Ghana) estimates a Living Income in rural cocoa growing areas of Ghana (Ashanti, Central, Eastern, and Western Regions) to be GHS 1,464 ($329) per month for a typical family of two adults and three children.

Côte d’Ivoire

The study “Analysis of the income gap of cocoa producing households in Côte d’Ivoire” (KIT) estimates a Living Income Benchmark in rural cocoa growing areas of Côte d’Ivoire to be CFA 3,759,281 (USD 6,517) per year for a typical male-headed household (up to 4 ha of productive land) of 3.5 adults and 3.5 children.

The study “Living Income Report Rural Côte d’Ivoire” (CIRES) estimate a Living Income in rural cocoa growing regions of Côte d’Ivoire (Gôh, Loh Djiboua, Nawa, Mé, Agnéby, Tonkpi, Indénié-Djuablin, Sud-Comoé and San-Pedro) to be CFA 262,056 ($454) per month for a typical family of two adults and four children.

Earlier, in April 2018, True Price and Fairtrade published a study that estimates a living income for a typical 8-member household in Côte d’Ivoire to be USD 7,318 per year.

Having defined living incomes, strategies to close the income gap for smallholder farmers (Côte d’Ivoire and Indonesia) are needed. This piece of research has been conducted by AidEnvironment on behalf of the Living Income Community of Practice.

A two-day event was held in Bonn on the 30th and 31st of January 2019 to support learning, action and collaboration around the topic of Living Income. To access all of the presentations and resources from the event visit: https://www.living-income.com/bonnevent2019