Cocoa industry, it’s a battle of the mind

One of Ghana’s legal luminaries, Lawyer Ace Ankomah has a profound saying. He says, “Brains develop nations and not natural resources”

The Republic of Ghana, bordering Ivory Coast to the east is the second biggest exporter of cocoa. The country's cocoa production accounts for 30% of its export revenue. About 800,000 Ghanaian farmers are directly involved in the cultivation of cocoa. Most of these cocoa farming families live in extreme poverty

Most of the cocoa growing areas has the most deplorable state of roads. According to the KNUST department of Mechanical Engineering study, over 400 cocoa farming communities are without electricity in the Western regional enclave.

The sorry state of affairs in our cocoa sector is captured below;

Ghana produces average of 850,000 metrics tonnes of cocoa yearly.

812,000 metric tonnes in 2018/2019

850,000 metric tonnes in 2019/2020

Ghana produces 20% of the world’s cocoa demand. According to COCOBOD CEO, Ghana makes just $2 billion out of the over $100 billion cocoa industry

In the chocolate industry, we are ranked 65, making just 13 million dollars as other country’s make billions. Germany makes $5 billion, Belgium makes $3.1 billion.

In Korea, they started using Ghana cocoa beans to make cocoa in 1975 after us soldiers came to their country with chocolates part of their rations. Now they make 55 million dollars, we make 13 million dollars in the cocoa industry.

They make billions, we make pittances from all the hard labor. Note, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has signed and secured a pre-export trade finance facility of US$ 1.3 billion under its annual cocoa syndication for the purchase of 900,000 metric tonnes of cocoa for the 2020/21 crop season.

It’s a battle of the mind! Our leaders need to fight that mental battle and re-think our ways. Ghana should be calling the shots in the cocoa realm. Our chocolate industry should rack in billions for our country and not the pittances. Why should Ghana go for loans every year to buy cocoa beans and cocoa growing inputs? How many children of cocoa farmers benefit from the COCOBOD scholarships? Most farmers have not tasted chocolates in their lives and this is according to a study by Bloomberg in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

It’s not beyond us, let us use our minds!