Ghana's Economy
Cocoa and the Cocoa Board
How Ghana became the world's second largest cocoa producer, how COCOBOD sets farmer prices and markets the crop, and challenges from disease and smuggling.
Ghana is the world’s second largest cocoa producer, after Côte d’Ivoire.
Smallholders
Hundreds of thousands of small farmers grow cocoa.
COCOBOD
- The Ghana Cocoa Board sets a fixed farmgate price each season.
- It sells cocoa forward on world markets.
Problems
- Swollen shoot virus damages trees.
- Smuggling to neighbours when their prices are higher.
- Illegal mining destroys farms.
2024 price surge
World cocoa prices hit record highs in 2024, but fixed farmgate prices meant farmers gained less at first, encouraging smuggling.
Value addition
Ghana aims to process more cocoa into chocolate and butter.
The smuggled bags
When prices across the border are higher, some farmers smuggle cocoa bags to Côte d'Ivoire or Togo.
Thinking farmers get world prices
COCOBOD sets fixed farmgate prices.
Key takeaways
- Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer.
- COCOBOD sets farmgate prices.
- Disease and smuggling are problems.
- 2024 saw record world prices.
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