Ghana faces lowest cocoa crop in 20 years, seeks recovery with military support

By: Claudemir Zafalon The Cocoa Board of Ghana (COCOBOD) has announced that due to massive smuggling during the 2023/24 crop year, the country’s military will be deployed to reinforce the anti-smuggling task force. The move is aimed at combating increasingly sophisticated trafficking networks that have siphoned off nearly a third of Ghana’s annual cocoa production, contributing to Ghana’s worst crop year in 20 years. Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, faced critical production in 2023/24, with just 429,323 metric tons harvested by the end of June. This figure represents a 55% drop compared to the same periods in previous harvests. The main factor driving this decline was the increase in smuggling, a direct result of low prices paid to producers and delays in payments to COCOBOD. Farmers, unhappy with lower prices and financial instability, have resorted to selling their produce to smugglers operating in neighboring countries. In Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, cocoa is more ...