Smoot interviewing farmers in Dommama, a town in the Western region of Ghana I traveled to Ghana for one month this summer in order to do field research for what will ultimately become my master's thesis for the International Agricultural Development (IAD) program. The goal of my project is to assess the prospects for increasing the percentage of cocoa beans that are actually processed in West Africa, instead of being shipped to Europe or the US for processing and chocolate manufacture. I am particularly interested in the possibility that farmer-owned cooperatives could set up their own processing factories. This would enable farmers to capture a much larger portion of the value that is added to their cocoa beans. I began my trip in Accra, the capital of Ghana, where I attended a workshop set up by the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership to discuss the state of extension services for cocoa farmers in Ghana and how to improve them. At the workshop I met a number of farmers from all ove...