The Ripple Effect: How Ghana's Cocoa Production Affects Us All ( PodBites Ep. 45)

Speaker A [0:00 - 4:26]: Ghana's cocoa farmers haven't had the easiest of bumps. Between the end of 2023 and so far in 2024, Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world, only after neighbouring country Ivory coast, in other words, Cote d'Ivoire. They contribute almost a fifth of the world's cocoa supply, that is Ghana, each year. So they play an important part in the overall cocoa production in the entire world. Now, the volume of coca production is lower than usual. I mean, in fact, it's half to what it usually is. And so farmers in Ghana are harvesting less and less and less. Now, this has been due to diseases such as swirling shoot virus, which affects the yields and the coca trees itself. And this causes farmers to ultimately destroy the trees and start all over again, which is a lot of time, effort I and money down the drain. Now, the drop in production levels has had a knock on effect worldwide, with the likes of America and the UK raising prices of their chocolate on the shelves to as much as twelve to 13%. I mean, that is a crazy figure. Can you imagine? And that will be a noticeable figure for those buying chocolate off the shelves. Now, harsh weather conditions have also been a contributing factor, as ideal weather conditions such as the right amount of sun and rain are key to development of the cocoa pods. On the bright side, it seems that the weather is improving and the cocoa farmers worst days are now behind them, as some cocoa farmers in Ghana are also recently reporting that the weather is improving, which will help them to ultimately harvest more cocoa beans. According to Reuters, Theopoulos Tamakloy from Central Gardeners Asin Fossil community said he expected to harvest 400 to 600 bags cocoa beans next season after he harvested 180 bags this season, judging from the pods on his farm. So we can clearly see here that there is a recovery period taking place. Now, cocoa production is a lifeline for many confectionery industries out there. So no cocoa will mean no products for many companies. I mean, just think about a world. No biscuits, no chocolate and no hot chocolate. That's almost like saying no to Starbucks, no to Costa, no to Cadbury's and no to McVities. Chocolate digestives, these are snacks and beverages that we all consume on a daily basis. And this will change the world. It's the reason why programs like Cocoa Life exist now. Coco Life is Mondelz International's global Cocoa sustainability program and in addition to Ghana and Ivory coast, they also support a range of countries, including Brazil. Mandela's International is an american company and one of the largest confectionery holding companies in the world. They own the likes of Cadbury's, Oreo, Milka, Toblerone Chips, Ahoy Tuck biscuits and many, many, many more brands. I tell you, with so many brands of theirs that rely on coca production, there is no reason why they wouldn't have such a sustainability program in place to aid coca harvest and farmers worldwide to protect their investment. Now, cocoa farmers and their communities face many challenges such as limited knowledge of farming techniques. They also face access to lack of fertilizer and pesticides. They also lack education and they also lack finance access. Now Coco life works with such partners to help address such challenges by helping these people that are involved in farming cocoa to help aid the growing of cocoa. Overall, Ghana farmers go through a lot, including experts in smuggling and even also unfair pricing. So the next time you bite into that dairy milk chocolate or you dip that chocolate biscuit into your tea or you pick up hot cocoa from Starbucks, think about the farmers in our home countries such as Ghana and and Ivory coast and what we can do to support them. I'm Adrian and out if you've listened to the end. Thank you. God bless you. Be sure to check out all the links I have in the description below on whatever platform you're listening to this on and share the episode with a fellow african.