Role of African countries in global cocoa bean production and export

This article is devoted to determining the changing role of African countries in the production and export of a unique agricultural product - cocoa beans, which serves as a raw material for many industries. The production of this product has shifted from Latin American countries towards the African continent. Four countries - Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon - have been identified as the leading African producers of cocoa beans, which are also among the top ten world exporters of this product. It has been found that despite many differences in size, geography and economic situation, producer countries share common problems. Fundamentally, these are related to the small size of farms producing raw cocoa, the poverty of farmers, their technical and technological backwardness, insufficiently developed infrastructure, etc. However, in all aforementioned African countries, an agricultural policy has been developed and continues to be developed, which is aimed at increasing the living standards of farmers and improving the quality of raw cocoa materials to strengthen the country’s competitiveness in the world market. In the further development of the farmer support system, special attention must be paid to measures aimed at mitigating price shocks for immediate producers.