Ivory Coast cocoa authority moves to ease tensions with farmers over unsold beans

After protests last week by cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast, the country's Coffee and Cocoa Council is sending a delegation to M'Batto try to calm the situation.

Farmers in the country's centre-east say their unsold cocoa beans are rotting, despite a government promise to buy the stock.

Massive fluctuations in the global cocoa market have left farmers in unable to offload their beans.

In January, the government said it would buy up any unsold stock but has slashed the price it's willing to pay. Growers say the government has only bought back a small amount of the stockpiled beans and many complain that they haven't been paid for beans harvested between October and March.

Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer, growing some 2 million tonnes a year. The crop accounts for about 14 percent of the country's GDP and supports five million people.