Ivory Coast's main cocoa and coffee farmers association on Tuesday definitively called off a threat to resume strike action after President Laurent Gbagbo refused to consider their calls for tax cuts.
Anaproci, a farmers' association grouping around 80 percent of Ivorian cocoa growers, halted deliveries of beans to exporters, blocked roads and burned several tonnes of cocoa during their three-day stoppage two weeks ago over low prices.
The strike was later suspended for talks with Gbagbo's government. Farmers were demanding a reduction in the main export tax, the DUS, currently set at 220 CFA ($0.43) per kg, in order to raise farmgate rates.
"After our discussions, the President of the Republic asked the farmers to lift their strike order," Anaproci spokesman Moussa Bado said in a prepared statement.
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