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Farmers threaten to burn surplus cocoa
REUTERS
Abidjan, Nov 28: Ivorian farmers protesting against low cocoa prices and angered by international traders' reactions said on Thursday they would start burning stocks of beans over the weekend. "The traders say there is too much cocoa and that the farmers will not be able to disrupt marketing for long. If there is too much cocoa to pay us a fair price, we must destroy the surplus," the secretary of the Collective of Cocoa and Coffee Farmers, Henri Amouzou, told Reuters.He said a general asssembly of the collective on Wednesday had unanimously decided to burn cocoa in the main towns of producing areas. Ivory Coast has 40 cocoa-producing departments. Bailiffs are to be present to confirm the amount of cocoa burnt, he said. The cocoa is to come from stocks held by cooperatives. Ivory Coast has 59 licensed cooperatives, which are expected to market around 200,000 tonnes of the 1999/2000 crop, likely to total well over 1.1 million tonnes. Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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