Libéralisation, cycles politiques et cycles du cacao : Le décalage historique Côte-d'Ivoire-Ghana

Abstract

During the 1990s, though both were referred to as undergoing 'liberalisation, ' more or less opposing economic reforms were implemented by the two main cocoa producing countries. In Ghana, the second biggest cocoa producer in the world, liberalisation has only been partial, and concerns opening the domestic market (purchase from smallholders), while the purchase price is still set by the State. In Côte d'Ivoire, liberalisation is theoretically full and complete. The State has abandoned its prerogative to set the price at which producers can sell, allowing prices to fluctuate with supply and demand. In Côte d'Ivoire, the State has also opened export to the private sector. Still, the symmetry of the policies is not limited to the two forms of liberalisation, but also concerns the accompanying tax policies: a reduction in Ghana, an increase in Côte d'Ivoire. Today, if one assesses the impact of liberalisation by changes in cocoa production, one could say it is successful in Ghana and uncertain in Côte d'Ivoire. If the effect of liberalisation is measured by the well-being and income of the planters, in Ghana both have progressed, whereas in Côte d'Ivoire the change has been a disaster. Beyond considering liberalisation as an economic measure, the opposition between the two policies can be interpreted as the continuation of the history of two neighbouring countries: that of a time lag between cocoa cycles that almost inevitably overlaps a time lag between political cycles which are closely interlinked.