GHANA COCOA BOARD
GROWING A SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY GHANA COCOA BOARD
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GHANA COCOA BOARD
COCOA IS AN INHERENTLY SUSTAINABLE CROP, AND DOES NOT NATURALLY DEGRADE THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH IT GROWS.
GREEN CHOCOLATE Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Noah Amenyah, Director of Public Affairs at the Ghana Cocoa Board, about serving farmers, protecting the environment, and managing one of the largest sectors in the Ghanaian economy. In 1947, the Ghanaian government established the Cocoa Marketing Board (COCOBOD) to encourage and facilitate the production, processing, and marketing of high-quality cocoa, coffee, and shea nut in Ghana. Today, Ghana is the second-largest producer of cocoa in the world, exporting to chocolate manufacturers worldwide, and the COCOBOD, officially renamed
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the Ghana Cocoa Board in 1979, protects Ghanaian farmers in all six regions where cocoa is grown: Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Western, and Volta. Today the COCOBOD operates through five subsidiary organizations that cover a full spectrum of services. These subsidiaries are the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), the Seed Production Division of
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GHANA COCOA BOARD
THE ROLE COCOA PLAYS IN GHANA’S ECONOMY IS A GREAT SOURCE OF PRIDE FOR COCOBOD, WITH ENTIRE TOWNS HAVING DEVELOPED AND GROWN UP AROUND THE COCOA SECTOR.
COCOBOD (SPD), the Cocoa Health and Extension Division, the Quality Control Company, and the Cocoa Marketing Company. ESSENTIAL SERVICES COCOBOD acts as an overseer for the cocoa sector in Ghana, working across the entire supply chain, from cocoa farmers through to international export, to ensure that prices and conditions remain fair for all parties. “A farmer will be given the seedlings free of charge to plant and we will as-
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sist them with agronomic services, including how to best grow the crop, what fertilizers to use, et cetera,” says Noah Amenyah, Director of Public Affairs at COCOBOD. “Then there will be essential services from the Cocoa Health and Extension Division to the farmer, including essential skills and advice on optimizing the local environment for sustainability.” Once a crop has been harvested, the farmer sells his produce to a COCOBOD-approved licensed buying company (LBC).
“We ensure that the LBC has to pay a minimum amount to the farmer for his product,” says Mr. Amenyah. “The asset is guaranteed, and all produce that the farmer offers will be taken and paid for according to our guidelines. The LBC will be paid a margin for doing that business, handing over cocoa to COCOBOD. We then, through the Cocoa Marketing Company, allow the cocoa to enter the market for both domestic and foreign companies interested in our cocoa. That is how the operation has been structured.”
In Ghana, Ecom works with over 140,000 farmers and has the vision to show that through its entrepreneurship it helps build prosperity. This means that everything the company does is based on the principle of building wealth for the farmers.
Achieving the impossible to create prosperity in rural communities.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
CAPACITY BUILDING DEVELOPMENT OF FARMERS AND FARMER ORGANISATIONS
Good agricultural, environmental and social practices training Alternative livelihood programs Demo farms to demonstrate best practice Seedling nursery management training Gender training Farmer business school Certification programmes such as RA, Fairtrade, UTZ
SERVICE AND PRODUCTS
PROVISION OF SERVICES AND PRODUCTS TO OUR FARMERS AND COMMUNITIES
Advisory Services Farm management & farm rehabilitation services Supply chain for crop purchasing (cocoa & cashew) Access to quality Crop Doctor Agro-inputs Farming tools, solar products Farm surveys & mapping
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GHANA COCOA BOARD SUSTAINABLE QUALITY Ghanaian cocoa farmers use a natural, sustainable process to dry their crop. The beans are laid out on raffia mats in the sun to dry naturally, rather than using a mechanical drying process, as in many other countries. This process completely eliminates potential contamination by the chemicals used in an artificial process. COCOBOD also carry out quality grading to the highest international standards, ensuring that Ghana’s international reputation for premium cocoa is maintained. Grade 1 cocoa has no more than 3% mould, 3% slate, and 3% all other defects, putting it in line with the highest standards of the International Cocoa Organization. In order to ensure Ghana’s environment is not adversely impacted by the cocoa sector, COCOBOD applies stringent practice guidelines and regulations. Cocoa is an inherently sustainable crop, and does not naturally degrade the environment in which it grows. COCOBOD discourages farmers from clear-cutting forests to make space for cocoa. Instead, it insists that the crop is grown among trees and other flora so that cocoa can be a part of a diverse ecosphere.
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All chemicals and fertilizers must also be approved and monitored by CRIG, so that they meet high standards. CRIG must also approve all land intended for cocoa growth before farmers begin sowing seeds. NATIONAL PRIDE The role cocoa plays in Ghana’s economy is a great source of pride for COCOBOD, with entire towns having developed and grown up around the cocoa sector, leading to innumerable homes and jobs for the population. Over the past five years, an average of US$2 billion per year has been brought into the country’s economy via the cocoa sector. That equates to between 7% and 9% of the total GDP. It also totals 43% of the country’s agricultural commodity. “There is a saying in this country: Ghana is cocoa and cocoa is Ghana,” says Mr. Amenyah. “This underscores the fact that cocoa has played a very important
role in the economy of the country for over a century now. It has become the backbone of our economy so there are a lot of benefits. We have over 800,000 farm families cultivating cocoa in Ghana. Taking into account the entire value chain, there are about two million people employed in the industry. We at COCOBOD also help farmers by providing alternative work when they are not growing a cocoa crop. We also fund social programs for Ghanaians. One example of this is the scholarship fund we make available to people pursuing higher education. As a result of this scholarship, people have even been able to qualify as medical doctors.” SWEET HORIZONS Looking to the future, COCOBOD will continue improving agricultural processes, helping farmers achieve higher yields of high-quality crop. “We’re trying to im-
prove on farmers’ activities so the farmer can get more income to support himself, his family, and his community,” says Mr. Amenyah. “We have put in a number of farm enhancement initiatives to do this. One of them is to be able to increase the yield of the cocoa by introducing hand pollination or artificial pollination methods into the agronomic practices of the farmer. To do this, we have so far employed nearly 10,000 people to engage with farmers and teach them how to practice hand pollination. We have also introduced fertility and soil improvement measures, such as cutting back dead trees and aggressively fighting diseased crops. Fertilizers are being subsidized for the farmer so that he can have access to the best possible tools and increase his yield. Ultimately, the future for cocoa in Ghana is looking very bright and we are very positive about the coming years.” c GHANA COCOA BOARD
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Ghana Cocoa Board Cocoa House, 41 Kwame Nkrumah Avenue P.O. Box 933, Accra T: +233 302 661 752 E: public_affairs@cocobod.gh www.actantigua.com
SUSTAINABLE
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