Abstract:
This article examines the role of financial capital in the cocoa industry
of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It argues that the processes of structural
adjustment in the 1980s and 1990s brought two important elements into
play. Firstly, transnational corporations taking advantage of the opening
of global markets to gain control over the cocoa sector, and secondly,
financial institutions promoting ‘country platforms’ that encouraged
public–private partnerships to mobilize foreign investments and define
development objectives. This has led to a distinct pattern of investment,
which is intimately connected with governance reforms underpinned by
a diverse set of public and private alliances at different levels. The article
traces these alliances which have given rise to community development
programmes. However, these programmes are underpinned by a drive
towards greater intensification of production through the use of inputs
supported by credit, which threatens to entangle farmers in debt and
lock them into the poverty inherent in the cocoa industry
