These countries together account for 75% of Africa’s tropical forests
Representatives from ten West and Central African nations have convened in Accra for the 9th Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative (ASCI), reaffirming their joint commitment to promoting sustainable agricultural production that safeguards forests, supports rural livelihoods, and drives economic growth.
These countries together account for 75% of Africa’s tropical forests and 25% of tropical forests globally, making their cooperation critical to the continent’s climate and development agenda.
In his keynote address, Ghana’s Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, underscored Ghana’s leadership in climate-smart agriculture and sustainable commodity development.
“Ghana has taken bold steps, particularly in the tree crop sector, through the establishment of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), which plays a pivotal role in regulating and supporting the sustainable growth of priority crops such as oil palm, rubber, coconut, mango, cashew, and shea,” he said.
The minister continued, “These steps are reshaping the future of our non-cocoa agricultural landscape.”
The ASCI platform, established to empower African producer countries in setting sustainability principles for key commodities like cocoa, palm oil, rubber, and coffee, has become a driving force in aligning agriculture with forest conservation, global trade standards, and climate action.
Eric Amoako Agyare, Solidaridad’s Country Representative in Ghana, emphasised the importance of inclusive, climate-resilient innovations.
“We are pleased to co-host this 9th ASCI platform under our NISCOPS programme, which seeks to ensure oil palm landscapes are sustainably managed and smallholder farmers measurably benefit from their inclusion in the supply chain,” Agyare said.
He highlighted a recent pilot as an example of innovation in action, “Through the NISCOPS programme, we piloted two artisanal oil palm mills equipped with modern technology to reduce methane emissions and increase oil extraction rates, an initiative aligned with Ghana’s Article 6.2 commitments under the Paris Agreement.”
The ASCI’s achievements were recently recognised on the global stage when it received the Schwab Foundation Collective Social Innovators’ Award 2025 at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Abraham Baffoe, Africa and Global Director at Proforest, on his part emphasised the platform’s broader significance, “This platform has a track record of working regionally across ten countries, so we have much to contribute to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agenda.”
“The lessons we’ve learned from producers and companies on the ground are critical to engaging all stakeholders in effectively implementing emerging regulations such as the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR),” he concluded.
The two-day high-level summit, co-hosted by Proforest and Solidaridad, brought together ministers, senior government officials, civil society organisations, and private sector leaders from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone.
SSD/MA