Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon are set to make history with the launch of a landmark partnership aimed at transforming Africa’s cocoa industry by ending decades of dependence on raw cocoa exports and increasing local processing across the continent.
The four countries, which collectively produce nearly two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, are expected to sign the Abuja Declaration during the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja. The agreement will establish a Cocoa Value Addition Alliance, a regional bloc designed to coordinate policies, harmonise industry standards, strengthen local processing and improve Africa’s negotiating power in the global cocoa market.
The announcement was disclosed in a statement issued by Odenke Ibiang, Special Assistant in the Media Office of the Minister of State for Industry.
According to the statement, the summit, themed “From Bean to Brand,” represents a major turning point for African cocoa-producing nations seeking to retain more economic value from one of the continent’s most important agricultural commodities.
For decades, African countries have supplied the majority of the world’s cocoa beans while much of the processing, manufacturing and branding has taken place overseas. As a result, producing nations have earned only a small share of the profits generated by the global chocolate industry.
The new alliance aims to change that narrative by encouraging greater domestic processing, expanding manufacturing capacity, attracting investment and creating more jobs within Africa.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, said the time had come for African cocoa-producing nations to reshape their role in the global market.
“For a hundred years, Africa has sent its cocoa to the world in sacks and received it back in wrappers, paying at both ends of the transaction,” Enoh said.
“The distance between a bean and a brand is measured in jobs and in dignity, and in Abuja, four nations begin closing that distance together. We do not gather to lament the market. We gather to redesign our place in it.”
The minister, who is also a cocoa farmer from Cross River State, is expected to deliver the keynote address at the summit.
In addition to the regional agreement, Nigeria will sign a separate Cocoa Value Addition Accord, a national compact that will bring together the Federal Government, governors of cocoa-producing states, farmer associations, industry stakeholders, research institutions and development finance organizations.
The accord is expected to establish measurable targets for expanding domestic cocoa processing, increasing farmers’ incomes, strengthening the cocoa value chain and attracting new investments into the sector.
Implementation will be overseen by a delivery council chaired by the Minister of State for Industry, with annual progress reports to be published to ensure transparency and accountability.
One of the alliance’s first major policy priorities will be responding to the European Union Deforestation Regulation, which is scheduled to take effect for large and medium-sized operators on December 30, 2026.
Under the new EU rules, cocoa imported into European markets must be fully traceable to individual farms, with documented proof that production did not contribute to deforestation.
The four countries are expected to adopt a common position advocating for the recognition of their national traceability systems while insisting that compliance costs should not be passed on to smallholder farmers.
The initiative also comes at a time of significant volatility in global cocoa markets. Over the past 18 months, cocoa prices have experienced dramatic swings, rising above $11,000 per tonne, falling to around $3,000 per tonne, and later recovering to approximately $5,000 per tonne. These fluctuations have created uncertainty for producers and exposed farmers to unstable incomes.
Beyond policy discussions, the summit is expected to feature goodwill messages from the Ghana Cocoa Board and Côte d’Ivoire’s Le Conseil du Café-Cacao, alongside a dedicated financing session involving the Bank of Industry, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and other development finance institutions. Organizers say the session is expected to produce major funding commitments for cocoa processing and value addition projects.
Participants will also receive updates on the construction of Nigeria’s largest cocoa processing facility, a 70,000-metric-tonne processing plant being developed by Sunbeth Global Concepts in Sagamu, Ogun State. The facility is scheduled for commissioning in 2027 and is expected to significantly boost Nigeria’s cocoa processing capacity.
The Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 is being organized by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment through the Office of the Minister of State for Industry, with the Bank of Industry serving as co-convener. The initiative forms part of the Tinubu administration’s industrial policy, which identifies agro-industrial value addition as a key strategy for economic diversification, export growth, industrialization and job creation.
Nigeria is currently the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, behind Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. Together, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana account for more than half of global cocoa production, underscoring the strategic importance of the new alliance.
If successfully implemented, the Cocoa Value Addition Alliance could reshape the future of Africa’s cocoa industry by reducing dependence on raw bean exports, strengthening local manufacturing, increasing farmers’ earnings and ensuring that cocoa-producing nations capture a greater share of the global chocolate market.
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