2024-09-08 22:05:09
In Ghana, the new cocoa campaign should start this week while the last one showed a decrease in production of 55%. A poor harvest caused by climate change, illegal gold mining or an epidemic that destroys crops. And the first to suffer are the producers.
Like every morning, Akwasi Ampafo takes a tour of his six-hectare farm in the area of Juaben. ” This land is called Aman Paman, I am very happy there “. At the age of 66, with 20 as a producer of cocoa, Akwasi Ampafo today it is difficult to provide for his needs. ” It is more complicated to grow cocoa todayhe explained, the weather has changed: the rain is not the same, or the sun is there. It needs more attention. »
Pods hit by disease
Another problem: the cost of maintenance and forest management products is increasing in a Ghana in an economic crisis where inflation still exceeds 20%. It has become difficult to deal with diseases which, like cocoa edema virus, attack crops throughout the country.
A note from his neighbour, Emmanuel Akweni, who is also a cocoa producer, with an infected cockroach in his hand. ” There are black spots on it, that means it is attacked by insects ».
Emmanuel Akweni therefore saw its production decreases every year and it is not the increase in the price of the bag set by Ghana’s cocoa regulator – 2,000 cedis for 64 kg for the time being – that will really change his situation: ” We want more, a bag for 3,000, 3,500 cedis. With the current price, to survive, I am forced to borrow from the bank or from my relatives. » But neither he nor Akwasi Ampafo have plans to sell their farm; only the land they have. However, there is no question that their children are entering the subject.
Rubber and gold coating
The transportation problem here in Ghana, which is dangerous future production damage. However, this is what Richmond Frimpong, an agricultural journalist based in Kumasi, thinks: No one, especially young people, wants to get into cocoa production. Already because many young people do not have money to get land to cultivate. After all, the cocoa sector does not promise the best living conditions. »
The solution according to him: tax benefits for conservation products and fertilizers, invest in rural areas by building roads and ban the cutting of cocoa trees by law. ” When you go to the eastern region and parts of the western region, esteem Richmond Frimpong, some cocoa farmers have given their land to rubber investors and galamsayers because they need money immediately. » 19,000 hectares: this is the area of cocoa trees destroyed by illegal gold mines in 2022. A disease that is difficult to fight while the cocoa regulator has announced that it hopes for a renewal in production for the next season.
Listen againGhana: cocoa production declines rapidly, loss of agricultural land partly responsible
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