Summary
The Living Income Differential (LID) was the result of a joint initiative of the Ivorian and Ghanaian governments to address the sharp drop in world market cocoa prices which reduced farmers’ income and governments’ revenues from cocoa. The LID is a $400 per ton premium on cocoa exports, to be paid on top of the world market price. This case study describes the process of the LID development from a planned price floor, which was changed into a premium on the export price and which initiated public-private discussions about an Economic Pact.
This case study is an extract from the larger report ‘Components for creating living income policy initiatives: Insights from 3 policy case studies‘ (2026)
