Refusing to think, Ghana’s Cocoa sector

South China's island province of Hainan has exported cocoa beans to Belgium for the first time, according to the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS).

The first batch of 500 kg of cocoa beans, worth 3,044 euros (about $3,600), was produced in Xinglong, a township of Hainan with a tropical climate.

The analysis of these beans from China shows that the quality posses more economic value than what Ghana earns.

A few decades ago, Ghana controlled about 60% of the pineapple market. We sat satisfied with the pittances we earned from the market, added no new varieties, and added no value. Del Monte in Costa Rica started producing new varieties.

The innovation and intensive agricultural approach have delivered cheap pineapples and created a new market in the value chain. Today, Ghana is doing less than 5% whiles Del Monte production has risen by nearly 50% since 1998. It has always been a battle of the mind and thinkers. In today’s world, if you fail to innovate, you die.

Cocoa farming has always competed with the mining industry for land, and in recent years, the competition has become fierce and quite brutal in the last decade. Data from the International Cocoa Organization shows that cocoa production in Ghana is based on smallholder farmers. About 800,000 households are growing cocoa mostly on plots of 2-3 ha with small plantations.

Similar to other cocoa-producing countries worldwide, over 90 percent of Ghana’s cocoa is grown on small farms. Cocoa production takes place in six out of the ten regions of Ghana with the Western region having the highest production value (accounting for over 50 percent of total production) followed by the Ashanti region (accounting for about 16 percent of total production) and the Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions which together account for about 19 percent of total production.

Interesting these dominant regions, the Western, Ashanti, and Eastern regions are the headquarters of galamsey activities. Wassa Akropong is the headquarters of galamsey activities in Ghana. The activities are also massive in Wassa Adiembra. In the Manso areas, typical cocoa growing area, it’s now a den of galamsey syndicates and their activities. Same for the Eastern region, the Abuakwa and Atiwa areas

Another evidence of the significant challenge with the cocoa sector is a survey by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), show that at least 18,468.51ha of cocoa farmlands have been degraded, and the livelihood sources of over 84,635 smallholder farmers taken away in the Western region alone. The state currently loses at least US$27 million worth of cocoa beans every year. ICCO estimates that, between 2010 and 2015, 117,240 hectares of forest were cleared because of mining activities.

Production of cocoa in Ghana is increasing with estimated output of 1 million MT in 2011, compared to 710,000 MT in 2009, 904,000 MT in 2010, 812,000 MT in 2019, 800,000 MT in 2020. This dilly-dallying is a result of many factors, galamsey being the major cause. Speaking to National Geography in a 2018 report, Pomasi Ismael, the chairman of Cocoa Abrabopa buyers in Kumasi told the National Geography, “Galamsey is the biggest threat to cocoa production”.

China’s populations and technological advancement, puts Ghana, is a massive quagmire. China has more finances, more lands, more experts, and more scientist. To compete in the realm of the 21^st century with such a country emerging in the cocoa production sector, Ghana needs innovation and re-thinking. Innovation processes should therefore include deliberate efforts to create effective linkages between technological arrangements, people, and social-organizational arrangements.

Statistics from 2014 to 2016 show Ghana imports are between US$2.23 million and US$8.06 million worth of chocolate a year, but exports between US$1 billion and $US2 billion of cocoa beans a year. When it comes to exports, according to government figures , Ghana and neighboring Côte d’Ivoire account for about 60 percent of the world’s output of cocoa. Despite this, the two countries jointly commanded revenue of about US$5.75 billion in 2015. This measures against a global market value of US$100 billion for chocolate in 2015.

We do all the laborious works and earn pittances whiles other who haven’t seen a cocoa tree ever planted in their country use their minds and expertise to innovate and make billions. We in turn rely on them for loans for our COCOCBOD every single year.

We shouldn’t be cracking and winnowing the husk from the cocoa bean with cutlasses in 2021. COCOBOD should invest in automatic machines for farmers to crack and winnow. We should explore and research new varieties of cocoa. We should most importantly, fight the menace of illegal mining head-on. Researchers have started complaining of some semblances of heavy metals present in our cocoa.

The European Union, which takes close to 70% of our cocoa production has issued threats if ban. Galamsey is the biggest threat to cocoa production in Ghana, today. The leaders of this country, government, and traditional leaders who are the custodian of lands in Ghana should think of posterity and the dangerous traps we are setting for them today. We need thinkers to think towards Ghana’s development.