At the end of June, Ghana’s cocoa production reached 429,323 metric tons, representing under 55% of the expected seasonal yield, as reported by the marketing board, COCOBOD.
Global cocoa prices have surged since the beginning of the year due to poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the latter being the largest producer. These two countries together supply approximately 60% of the world’s cocoa.
Ghana’s primary cocoa harvest is generally completed by the end of June, and the COCOBOD figures provide an approximate reflection of this season’s main crop yield for the world’s second-largest producer.
Both major cocoa producers have faced challenges from adverse weather and tree diseases, while Ghana’s production has also been affected by informal mining and smuggling activities.
The data from COCOBOD, as reported by Reuters, does not account for any cocoa production that may have been illegally exported.
On June 21, COCOBOD announced the commencement of Ghana’s light crop season, which typically contributes less than 10% of the annual cocoa yield.
Over the past five seasons, Ghana’s average annual cocoa production has been 800,000 tons, with a peak of over 1 million tons in 2020/21. However, the COCOBOD data indicates a decline over the past three seasons.
The marketing board did not provide equivalent production figures for the two previous seasons up to June. Nonetheless, full season outputs were 683,269 tons in 2021/22 and 656,140 tons the following season.
The decline in production has been most significant in Ghana’s top cocoa-growing regions: Ashanti and Western South. According to the data, Ashanti produced 103,976 tons by the end of June, compared to 160,855 tons for the full season last year, while Western South yielded 96,810 tons by June, down from 152,277 tons last season.
Nana Kwesi Barning, coordinator of the Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform, attributed the production decline in the two regions primarily to swollen shoot disease (CSSVD) and artisanal gold mining, locally known as galamsey.
“Galamsey and CSSVD are massive in there, especially the galamsey, per our analysis,” he told Reuters.
Nana Johnson Mensah Kagya, a major farmer in the Western South region with around 80 hectares of plantations, said over half of his cocoa had to be cut down and replanted due to swollen shoot.
And illegal gold mining, he said, is drawing young men away from cocoa farming.
“If galamsey continues to exist, cocoa has no future. Because of the galamsey, you will not get anybody to work on the cocoa farm,” Kagya said.
The Western North and Western South regions, situated near the border with Ivory Coast, along with the eastern Volta/Oti region adjacent to Togo, have experienced a decline in production due to their susceptibility to smuggling over the past three seasons.
Ghana and Ivory Coast both sell their cocoa harvests in advance, but the significant shortfall in production this year has left Ghana’s Cocobod unable to meet its delivery commitments to exporters and traders.
Last month, Reuters reported that Ghana was considering postponing the delivery of up to 350,000 tons of cocoa beans to the next season; however, COCOBOD disputed the extent of these contract deferrals.
The CEO of Cocobod has predicted that cocoa production will recover to over 800,000 tons in the upcoming season starting in October, but industry experts and analysts have expressed skepticism about the feasibility of this target.