By Olatunji Olaigbe & Ibrahim Khalilulahi Usman
It is midday in Barekese, a farming community in Ghana’s Ashanti Region, about 300 km from the capital, Accra. Philip Anane, a 50-year-old cocoa farmer, walks through his farm under the scorching sun. His crops appear pale, malnourished, and infected.
“I farm because it’s what I know—what we grew up doing,” Anane says while inspecting his cocoa leaves. “I’ve invested all my money in this farm, but I’ve never gained. At the end of every season, the money I make is less than what I put in.”
Anane points to another section of his farm. “I’ve been a cocoa farmer for almost 20 years, but there’s nothing to show for it. I have a family; I want a better life for my children. Now I’m thinking of selling this farm to private investors and using the money to start something else,” he adds, gesturing toward a small poultry farm he recently started on a nearby half-acre plot.
The Reality of Cocoa Farming in Ghana
Across the humid forest of Adankwame, another farming community in the Ashanti Region, Holiata Ibrahim tends her cocoa crops. She inherited her farming knowledge from her grandmother, but the income from cocoa is barely enough to sustain her family.
“Farming cocoa is exhausting,” Holiata shares. “It requires a lot of manpower, effort, and money. It takes five years for a tree to grow and start producing, and even then, the earnings are small. It feels like we farmers are working for others to benefit.”
Despite being the world’s second-largest cocoa producer behind Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana’s cocoa industry leaves farmers like Anane and Holiata struggling to survive. In recent times, prices of the commodity have increased exponentially, pushed by extreme climate events and supply chain crises on fertilisers used by farmers.
The sector employs over a million peopleand contributes about $2 billion in foreign exchange annually. However, these farmers see little of this wealth due to low prices set by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), the government body that regulates the industry, established in 1947.
According to Oxfam, up to 90% of Ghanaian cocoa farmers do not earn a living income. Many of the 800,000 smallholder farmers live on less than $2 a day, barely affording basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, and healthcare.
The Controlled Market and Farmer Struggles
Under Ghanaian law, cocoa farmers must sell their produce exclusively to COCOBOD through its licensed buying companies (LBCs). This tightly regulated market leaves farmers with no control over pricing or buyers, forcing them to follow the board’s rules.
“Once you invest in a business, you expect to profit,” explains Nana Kwasi Barning Ackah, Programme Officer at SEND Ghana and Coordinator of the Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP). “Farmers spend on inputs and farm management, but the prices they receive for their cocoa beans often don’t cover production costs. Only a small number of farmers make substantial profits, while most struggle to break even.”
For the 2024/2025 season, COCOBOD set the producer price at GH¢48,000 per tonne or GH¢3,000 per 64 kg bag. While this is a slight increase, it pales compared to the world market price, which exceeded $12,000 per tonne in December 2024.
“The increment is not enough to lift most cocoa farmers out of poverty,” says Peter Dadzie, Executive Director of the Akurase Mpuntuo Foundation, an advocacy group working with farmers.
A study by the Imani Centre for Policy & Education revealed that cocoa farmers earn an average of $0.60 per person daily—far below the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP) standard of $1.96 per person per day, according to a survey of 353 cocoa farmers in three major cocoa-growing regions.
Farmers like Emmanuel Ankoma, who has worked on cocoa farms since childhood and now owns 30 acres, believe the controlled pricing system stifles their potential earnings.
“I wish I could sell my produce to whomever I want,” Ankoma says. “The controlled pricing doesn’t help us. When you subtract the money we invest, the profit is very small,” he added.
Challenges in Cocoa Production and The Value Chain Problem
The 2023/2024 season brought additional challenges, including an outbreak of cacao swollen shoot disease (CSSD), which affected 500,000 hectares—25.7% of Ghana’s cocoa-growing land. CSSD has caused significant economic losses, with infection rates exceeding 30%.
“Cocoa farmers are not treated well at all,” laments Stephenson Anane Boateng, President of the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association (GNACOFA). “Production keeps decreasing. Farmers face unstable weather caused by climate change, persistent diseases, and a lack of support from the authorities.”
Ghanaian farmers are at the bottom of the cocoa value chain. Over 80% of the country’s cocoa is exported in raw form, leaving little value-added profit for local farmers.
“In any business, adding value is key to maximising returns,” explains Ackah. “It’s imperative for Ghana and COCOBOD to consider processing cocoa beans domestically to gain greater financial value.”
However, COCOBOD’s operations are heavily politicised. Leadership changes with each government, bringing new directives that often disrupt progress. Corruption allegations and financial mismanagement have also plagued the board, further compounding its challenges.
A Path Toward Sustainability
The Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association (GNACOFA) has also introduced initiatives to support farmers. These include low-interest loans and financial services through its cooperative credit union, sustainable cocoa farming programs through its Agro-Input Field & Factory, and projects focused on health, housing, and community development.
In 2018, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire launched the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) to address industry challenges and improve farmers’ livelihoods. Additionally, COCOBOD is developing a Cocoa Management System (CMS), a national database of farms and their owners, to improve efficiency as an effort towards implementing the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which could make cocoa farming more sustainable, fair, and innovative.
“I’m baffled that after years of operation, COCOBOD still needs to take out loans to buy beans from farmers,” noted Shuaibu. “Why couldn’t they have saved over the years to make these purchases? Loans come with conditions and interest, which eat into their profits. If COCOBOD used its own funds, it would increase its earnings, ultimately benefiting both the government and farmers.”
Corruption is a significant concern for cocoa farmers. Although COCOBOD has in many instances denied allegations of corruption, there have been instances where staff involved in financial mismanagement were dismissed. A former chairman of the board is currently in a legal battle with the government over alleged financial improprieties.
COCOBOD’s financial struggles compound these challenges. For decades, the organisation has relied on external loans to purchase cocoa beans from farmers. However, it failed to secure a loan for the 2024/2025 season because international financial institutions lost confidence in its management. According to cocoa marketing expert Shuaibu Abubakar, this lack of financial stability could have been avoided.
The Future of Cocoa Farming
For farmers like Anane and Holiata, cocoa farming is a way of life. Despite the hardships, they remain committed but fear that younger generations may abandon the trade. This reluctance threatens the preservation of traditional farming knowledge and practices.
As Ghana navigates its cocoa crisis, addressing the systemic inequities in the industry will be crucial to ensuring that farmers reap the rewards of their labour.
Muhammed Bello contributed to the field reporting.
This reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Centre as part of a reporting project exploring the complexities of the cocoa industry in West Africa.