UK: Studies claim 45% of Ivory Coast cocoa crops cannot be traced to buyers

Sector concerns have been raised in the wake of a new industry study on transparency and traceability of cocoa supply chains in Ivory Coast, revealing that 45% of crops cannot be tracked back to the original buyer, writes Neill Barston. The research from IOP Publishing, part of the Institute of Physics, reportedly found that the remaining 55% of cocoa in the country cannot be tracked either, as it is reportedly indirectly sourced by traders from intermediaries or exported by groups that disclose no information about their sourcing. According to the science-group’s findings, while revenue from the industry is responsible for around a third of export income, the sector is also said to be driving deforestation due to ‘weak enforcement of land use regulations’. Furthermore, the IOP noted that the Ivory Coast had lost 80% of its forested areas over the past 60 year, with its latest study showing that between 2000-2019 almost half of the deforestation and forest degradation in the ...