Issues surrounding the importation of cocoa beans to Ghana

A recently leaked official letter from the Ghana Cocoa Board, granting a request from the Afrotropic Cocoa Processing Company Limited to import cocoa beans into the country for processing, has led to some anxiety among stakeholders in the cocoa sector. The said letter has raised concerns about whether or not Ghana, the cradle of premium quality cocoa imports cocoa beans for whatever reasons. The major question on the lips of citizenry, mostly expressed through social media and other online platform is, "Does Ghana import cocoa beans? If so, since when did this start? This article puts in perspective, opinionated position in an attempt to answer the question. In January 2024, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) reported that cocoa is currently the third most important export commodity of Ghana, coming after gold and oil and accounting for 13% of the country’s total export receipts. It is noteworthy that of these major export commodities, cocoa is the only commodity for which Ghana has 100 ...