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By Ben T.C. Brooks | River Gee & Grand Gedeh Counties |
The promise that cocoa farming would transform Liberia’s southeastern region into a hub of economic growth is dimming amid growing tensions over the dominance of the CFA franc in local cocoa trade.
In River Gee and Grand Gedeh Counties, Burkinabé migrant farmers—who now make up a significant portion of the cocoa workforce—are increasingly demanding payment in CFA francs rather than Liberian dollars, triggering currency instability and weakening local markets.
According to data from the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS), more than 45,000 Burkinabé nationals were officially registered in the two counties as of July 2025. While the registration process generated millions of Liberian dollars in government fees, much of the economic gain appears to be offset by a growing outflow of cocoa revenue through informal CFA-based trade networks that bypass the Liberian financial system.
“The cocoa business could have brought real money into our county—helping people build homes and support community projects—but that’s not happening because most transactions are now done in CFA,” said Joe Karpeh, a cocoa agent in Tuobo, Gbarweliken District, River Gee County.
Karpeh noted that Liberian agents often serve as intermediaries between local cooperatives and Burkinabé farmers, but the money ultimately leaves the country. “The foreign farmers prefer to sell in CFA through us, but the money doesn’t stay here. It goes back to their families across the border,” he said.
In Grand Gedeh County, local cooperative leaders share similar concerns. Abraham S. Barh, of the Komana Cocoa Cooperative Society, and Lawrence Paye, of Paye & Brothers Cooperative, say Burkinabé farmers now dominate cocoa production and reject payments in Liberian dollars.
“We buy cocoa at around L$500 per kilo, but the Burkinabés won’t take Liberian dollars. They only deal in CFA because they send the money home,” Barh explained. “Only Liberian farmers still accept our currency.”
He lamented that the trend has stripped communities of the financial benefits expected from cocoa exports. “The system gives nothing back—no roads, no schools, no visible development. The money earned here leaves immediately.”
Agents say the situation is worsened by the high cost of converting Liberian or U.S. dollar earnings from cocoa sales in Monrovia back into CFA to pay migrant farmers. Transporting one ton of cocoa from the southeast to Monrovia reportedly costs between US$90 and US$120, depending on road conditions and truck availability—further eroding profits and discouraging local investment in processing or value addition.
Local cooperatives are now calling on the Ministry of Agriculture, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to urgently intervene. They warn that the unregulated dominance of the CFA franc undermines national monetary policy, weakens fiscal control, and deepens rural poverty.
“The Central Bank’s efforts to stabilize the Liberian dollar are being quietly undermined in the southeast,” one cooperative leader cautioned. “If this continues, our people will remain poor while the wealth of our land benefits others.”
For many Burkinabé farmers, however, the preference for CFA is practical rather than political. “I have a wife and two children in Burkina Faso. I came here to work, and farming is the only thing I know,” said Sosoê Bōkiå, a 43-year-old cocoa farmer in Toe Town, through an interpreter. “I sell in CFA because that’s what I send home. If things improve, maybe one day I’ll bring my family here.”
Observers note that this foreign currency dependency exposes deeper issues—linking migration, trade, and economic sovereignty. Without policy intervention, analysts warn, Liberia risks losing control of a lucrative agricultural sector that could have driven rural transformation.
Community leaders are urging the government to regulate currency usage in domestic trade, empower Liberian-owned cooperatives, and invest in local cocoa processing to retain more of the industry’s value within the country.
“If nothing changes,” a cooperative leader warned, “our land will continue enriching others while our people stay poor.”
What was once viewed as a cocoa-driven development boom in Liberia’s southeast is now becoming a test of how effectively the government can manage cross-border trade, migration, and currency control to protect the national economy.
