VOA常速英语2007-Cocoa Industry Meeting Aims to Help Impoverished

By Phillip Wellman
Dakar
02 October 2007

Cocoa buyers, sellers, producers and other industry stakeholders are meeting this week in Accra, Ghana to discuss the future of cocoa business. In West Africa, where millions depend on the trade for their livelihoods¹, analysts² say that important price fluctuations³ impoverish⁴ farmers and need to be controlled. Phillip Wellman reports from our West Africa bureau in Dakar.

The International Cocoa Organization says the three-day conference will focus on preserving the environment, improving production, and boosting prices paid to cocoa farmers.

West Africa produces about 70 percent of the world's cocoa, bringing in millions in revenue, but most farmers in the region remain poor.

Secretary general of the Lagos-based Cocoa Producers' Alliance Sona Ebai says he believes a special organization should be created through which West African farmers would sell their cocoa and receive fixed⁵ prices.

Now farmers in many countries sell to intermediary companies that then resell to cocoa processors for a profit. He says an organization would help farmers receive better prices and also spread sales throughout the year.

"Most of it [cocoa], at least 80 percent of it, comes out in the first cocoa quarter of the year: October to December," he said. "So definitely the market is flooded and prices cannot be good. But if we had a system where we could purchase the cocoa from the farmer and take care of his interests, and then supply the market regularly [it would be better]. Because when it comes to March, April, May, June, the market is getting stronger in price, but the producers do not have any cocoa to sell."

Ebai says that a similar system exists in Ghana, where the government helps negotiate prices cocoa processors pay to farmers. Experts say because of this system the average Ghanaian contract is higher than the contracts in most neighboring cocoa producing countries, where there is less state intervention⁶.

One of those states is Ivory Coast, which produces roughly 40 percent of the world's cocoa.

The International Monetary⁷ Fund says that half of the country's population depends on the cocoa industry.

Spokesman for the Ivorian Farmers' Federation⁸ Gnan Fever says he believes Ivory Coast would benefit from a system like the one in Ghana. In 2002 the sector⁹ was semi-liberalized and five private bodies replaced a state-run cocoa board. The bodies have since been accused of fraud.

Fever says that creating a body to help sell farmers' cocoa directly to processing companies would make the country's cocoa industry more transparent¹⁰. He says then farmers would know exactly what price their cocoa was being sold at and what percentage the government would be taking. He says fixed prices would make earnings¹¹ more stable for farmers.

Maria Lopez of London-based Global Witness watchdog group says farmers in Ivory Coast make on average 50 cents a kilogram for their cocoa, which she says is much less than in Ghana. But she says establishing a growers group in Ivory Coast would be difficult.

"The way it looks, it is not very likely to happen quickly in Cote d'Ivoire because there is some legislation that forbids it, so unless they reverse legislation they will not be able to do it," she said.

In both Ivory Coast and Ghana, the cocoa industry rests mainly on small-scale farmers. Analysts say they have had little leeway in improving their work conditions, both in regards to powerful, private operators who buy their cocoa and governments who set the rules.

The International Cocoa Organization says it hopes this week's conference will help change this pattern.

1 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。

4 impoverish   

vt.使穷困，使贫困

参考例句：

• We need to reduce the burden of taxes that impoverish the economy.我们需要减轻导致经济困顿的税收负荷。
• America still has enough credibility to a more profitable path that would impoverish its creditors slowly.美国尚有足够的信用来让其得以选择一条更加有利可图的路径使它的债权人们渐渐贫困枯竭。

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

7 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

8 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

10 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

11 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。