From Ghana: Adding Value to Cocoa Crops

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 over the country, leaders of several cooperatives, and representatives of a number of NGOs that are working within the cocoa industry. I was able to conduct a few interviews that same day and arrange other interviews for the future. Later in my travels I actually visited the villages of two of the farmers that I met at the workshop.

Carrie, Nana Darko and Kaitlyn Smoot
with members of Brebiposo, another town
in the Western region, where 60 people
were interviewed

Additionally, while in Accra I visited the Ghana Cocoa Board headquarters and interviewed the head of research, who explained many details about how and why the Cocoa board maintains its export monopoly on cocoa beans and the various incentives that it offers to companies who locate processing facilities within Ghana. I also visited and interviewed managers at three different processing companies in the port of Tema, which is near Accra, and received a tour of the Cargill cocoa powder factory.



Smoot interviewing two female cocoa farmers
with the help of Thomas Oppong, one of the
farmers from the cocoa workshop. We visited his
town in the Ashanti region

The next part of my trip was a two-week trip around the southern part of Ghana. I traveled with my classmate, Carrie Teiken, who is a former Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, and her close friend Nana Darko, who served as our primary interpreter. Together we visited seven different villages in the five primary cocoa-growing regions of Ghana and interviewed over 200 cocoa farmers. Our survey included questions about production practices and output, marketing, cooperative membership, and the farmer's opinions about the services they currently receive and the idea of paying into a farmer-owned processing factory. During our tour of the country we also visited the headquarters of Kuapa Kokoo, the largest cocoa cooperative in Ghana, and Cocoa Abrobapa, a smaller but growing cooperative, and I was able to interview representatives of both organizations. We also made a stop in Takoradi, Ghana's second largest port town, where I was able to interview the managing directors of two more cocoa processing factories.



Thomas Oppong and a helper sorting mixing
his cocoa beans as they lay on a bamboo
mat to dry; every farmer leaves their
beans to dry in this fashion for 5-7 days.
This helps to make Ghana's cocoa the highest
quality cocoa in the world



During the trip I was able to gather a large amount of data for my project. I will conduct my analysis of the data over the course of the year, but I have already learned a few very interesting facts. Initial analysis shows that those farmers who are members of cooperatives and have access to extension services do have higher yields and profits. Also, practically every farmer with whom we spoke said that they would be willing to pay dues in order to finance a farmer-owned processing factory. On the industry side of things I learned that the biggest obstacle to increasing cocoa processing in Ghana is the shortage of small size beans. Currently the government offers small size beans at a 20% discount to domestic processors, but large size beans are always sold at the full world market price. However, there are not enough of these small beans produced to supply even the existing domestic processors, but they say that they cannot operate profitably when they are forced to pay full price for the larger beans. The key question that arises, which I plan to look at in my thesis, is whether it would be a good policy option for the government to offer a partial discount to domestic processors on the large beans as well.

Cacoa

In addition to all the data that I gathered for my project, I enjoyed a number of cultural experiences in Ghana. I was able to tour a former slave castle on the coast, attend a funeral (which is an incredibly important part of Ghanaian culture and lasts three days), visit a national rainforest, and sample a wide variety of Ghanian street food. It was an excellent, productive and educational trip!

Kaitlyn Smoot, Graduate Student, International Agricultural Development