Can cocoa production in West Africa be saved?

Francis Kokutse, in Accra, Ghana  

Francis Kokutse is a journalist based in Accra and writes for Associated Press (AP), University World News, as well as Science and Development.Net. He was a Staff Writer of African Concord and Africa Economic Digest in London, UK. 

The glorious  days of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as leading cocoa producers in the West African region, may be dying slowly, as a result of new threats to the production of the crop. In the past, the farms faced the problem of deforestation, diseases, and Climate Change. Now, illegal mining, especially in Ghana, where these activities have destroyed farmlands, and the poor sight of farmers together with a change in profession by possible new entrants into cocoa cultivation, are likely to put some stress on both countries.

With the two countries not yet able to come to terms with whatever is happening to their cocoa farms, South Africa has started experimenting with producing the crop, and this is likely to reduce the dependence of the two countries on cocoa beans as their main export produce.

The authors of a study, “Critical evaluation of the agro-ecological system of the Republic of South Africa, 30˚  South (30˚ S) – in response to unclassified claims of cocoa farming beyond 20˚ S of the equator,”  suggest that with KwaZulu-Natal Province showing signs of producing  cocoa,  farmers in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are likely to lose out on the market.

Peter Mudiaga Etaware, department of botany, faculty of science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, author of the study, said critical evaluation of the agro-ecological system of the Republic of South Africa (30˚ S) points to the fact that, farmers and investors looking for arable land to establish new cocoa farms should consider investing their finance in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), and its neighbouring countries, as these lands might be under-utilised and could be even more fertile, productive and profitable for cocoa farming. This is in response to unclassified claims of cocoa farming beyond 20˚ S of the equator, in addition to the climate analysis and disease epidemiological studies that have been carried out.

Etaware said the implication is that “recent climate change experienced all around the world has redefined some well-known agro-ecological boundaries, such that colder climate regions are fast becoming warm enough for the cultivation of tropical plant species.”

In addition, he said Africa will boost cocoa production and also increase Africa’s supply quota of cocoa beans (currently 60-70%) to the global market. This will surely spur natural cocoa producers into action to increase their cocoa production level.

Etaware said inadvertently, this will increase the level of deforestation, since there will be increased competition among new and old suppliers,” adding however that, “the quality of the cocoa beans produced by each country would be the major determinant in terms of the demand-supply trend.”

Another study on the crop in the two countries, “Cocoa plantations are associated with deforestation in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana,” published in Nature Food, said “cocoa cultivation is associated with over 37% of forest loss in protected areas in Côte d’Ivoire and over 13% in Ghana, and that official reports substantially underestimate the planted area (up to 40% in Ghana).”

This study says the two countries “continue to experience high forest loss. Côte d’Ivoire is estimated to have lost more than 90% of its forest cover since 1950, while Ghana has incurred forest losses of more than 65%.” Forest clearance rates reached a high in 2018, increasing by 60% over 2017 in Ghana and by 26% in Côte d’Ivoire, the two highest increases in annual deforestation rates worldwide.”

There are also reports that the Volcani Institute in Israel has come out with cocoa plants that can withstand about 3-1/2 months of drought giving the indication that there is the possibility to develop cocoa that can be cultivated in other regions. This must set the alarm bells ringing, but it does not look like officials in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire can stop any attempt to promote cocoa cultivation worldwide as the global price continues to rise.

In Ghana, as the farmers age, their eyesight starts to deteriorate which in turn can make it difficult to hand-pollinate the crops. Juliet Owusu Addai, who is now 66, and has been farming for 34 years, said she noticed the problems with her eyes when she hit 50. Fortunately for her, the international charity, VisionSpring has come to her aid and that of others with spectacles.

Ella Gudwin, chief executive officer of VisionSpring said the farmers were suffering from what she described as blurry vision which is “the loss of sharpness in sight, making it difficult to see fine details. It occurs when the eye doesn’t focus light properly, causing images to blur.”

“There are several causes of blurry vision. These include myopia (short-sightedness), which usually begins in childhood and can be caused by genetics or environmental factors; and presbyopia (far-sightedness), which is the age-related gradual loss of your eye’s ability to focus on nearby objects, W Gudwin[JA1]  said.

She said they were motivated to travel to Ghana to screen the farmers for their eyesight because the need for vision correction is acute and the work is vision intensive. Farmers and agricultural workers have outsized benefits with eyeglasses, especially in Ghana where cocoa is one of its greatest exports, adding that, “we have seen that vision correction with eyeglasses not only boosts household income but can also generate consequential economic multiplier effects at the country level.”

Their project for farmers in the Ajumako district of the Central Region of Ghana started in 2019. The programme began to scale up in 2023 when they screened 47,000 cocoa farmers and their families. This programme, named Livelihoods in Focus, will run for a minimum of 5-7 years.

Gudwin said the way to end this blurry vision is simple. “We need to be scaling up community-based access to vision screening and eyeglasses that cost just a few dollars and will help farmers with their harvests, productivity, and earnings. We encourage partners across public and private sectors to join us in our work to tackle the issue of blurry vision and invest in eyeglasses.”

Unfortunately, the authorities do not see some of these social services as necessary, because for a long time, even what the farmers earned from their toil, was never a top priority.

Addressing Parliament on the annual State of the Nation (SONA) this year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo gave the indication that producer price of cocoa will be increased as a result of the surging prices of the crop on the international market.

But the farmers don’t seem to agree with President Akufo-Addo. Though they agree that the international price of cocoa has gone up, they don’t, however, see this having any effect on their production in the country, and wondered if the increase in producer prices, apart from improving the incomes of farmers, will have any effect on production.

The current cocoa season that opened in September last year saw the increase of the producer price from GHC800 (($67) to GHC1200 ($108.33) per bag, which President Akufo Addo said, is the highest in 50 years. This is not likely to spur the farmers on to increase their production as what is happening is rather, more farmers moving out of cocoa cultivation.

Around some parts of the country, farmers are known to be giving away their farms to illegal miners because they don’t see much benefit from their cocoa farming. It is pathetic that some farmers are able to produce about 12 bags in a year which works out at $807. This is not encouraging the farmers to increase their output. No wonder some of them prefer to smuggle their crops out of the country.

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