ABIDJAN/ACCRA - Cocoa prices are likely to stay high for the foreseeable future as the world’s biggest producers, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, both have environmental and structural challenges to their respective production capabilities.

This has led to a sharp rise in cocoa prices on world markets that has been nothing short of stunning. Prices on the London exchange jumped by nearly 50% in March to well over $10,000 per tonne. Just a year earlier, a tonne was priced around $2,600.

But farmers in the biggest markets haven’t been benefiting from these increases as prices have been set well in advance by regulators, though the Ivorian president is looking to raise the farmgate price.

Farmers in Cameroon and Nigeria, whose cocoa markets have long been liberalized, have been able to benefit from the windfall.

Ultimately, with or without cocoa price rises, African farmers generally get a very small share of the revenue from an average bar of chocolate, according to research by Make Chocolate Fair, who estimate it at around 6 cents on a $1 bar.