Who Will Revive Ghana’s Collapsed Cocoa Industry To Boost The Purchasing Power Of The EU?

The president of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, signed a decree strengthening the punishments for mining-related offenses as part of the government's effort to combat the practice. The Criminal Code of Ghana was revised on August 20, 2019, making the penalties for illicit mineral mining more severe. An additional provision to the statute increased the maximum term for unlawful mining to twenty-five years in jail and raised the minimum penalty from 10 to fifteen years in prison.

However, despite the criminal code's efforts to lock up illegal miners, the operations grew so quickly that they damaged Ghana's major rivers and its ecosystems, which affected the country's agriculture sector, including the cocoa industry, which has been sustaining Ghana’s economy. It was alarming to learn that there were numerous chiefs involved in the illegal mining, and more significantly, that one of the people responsible for the issue was the one who had told Ghanaians he would deal with it.

European chocolate manufacturers, such as those in Switzerland and Belgium, have been concerned about the possibility of cyanide, mercury, or other dangerous substances contaminating Ghana’s agriculture, since the contaminants can spread down the food chain, considering Akufo Addo’s failure to stop illicit mining. Ghanaians need to know why the cocoa business is failing and why farmers are facing difficult problems for which the government ought to be responsible but is unable to provide solutions.

Food costs have skyrocketed as a result of illegal mining decimating wide tracts of crops, such as oil palm, cassava, and plantain. Many face the possibility of a barren wasteland polluted with mercury, even though much of the cocoa was produced on productive agricultural land where farmers had lawfully grown cash crops that were in demand on the global market. The government of Akufo Addo-Bawumia should have been quite concerned about this, but they haven't been able to resolve it.

The General Agricultural Workers' Union (GAWU) has warned that if strict measures are not taken to protect cocoa farms from illegal mining activities, Ghana could lose its ranking as the second-largest cocoa producer in the world. However, nothing significant has been done to lessen or eliminate the threat of illegal mining, the proceeds of which are used to fund government corruption rather than development. Mr. Bernard Bosiako is one of the perpetrators in the Ashanti Region.

Over half of all Swiss imports of cocoa beans come from Ghana, and this percentage hasn't altered in the last ten years. However, just from 2017 to 2018, Ghana's cocoa-growing land area has shrunk by 21%. Illegal gold mining is one of the primary causes of this predicament. Drought, illness, and a drop in the average yield of older cocoa trees are further reasons. But the forefront is being set by artisanal gold mining.

The Ghana Cocoa Board -COCOBOD, conducted a comprehensive study to determine the extent of damage caused by illegal mining operations. The study revealed that between 2019 and 2020, approximately 19,000 hectares of cocoa plantations were destroyed or changed hands as a result of illegal gold mining. This amount of land is more than twice the size of Zurich.

After Ivory Coast, Ghana is currently the world's second-largest producer of cocoa. Nevertheless, new laws in Europe make it extremely likely that Ghanaian coffee and cocoa exports would soon be prohibited. The European Union uses satellite imagery; nearly all of Ghana's area is highlighted in red, indicating land degradation.

The astute former Ghanaian leader, John Mahama, will be entrusted with the sole chance of revitalizing the country's agricultural sector, boosting exports, and restoring the purchasing power of the European Union since the Akufo Addo-Bawumia government has let the people down.