Ghana's Cocoa Industry, Agriculture Subsidy and Lessons for Nigeria

Remi Adeoye
02 Jun 2016



Ghana's Cocoa Industry, Agriculture Subsidy and Lessons for Nigeria


Each time I visit Ghana, I see a country that is stable, peaceful and developing. You are not likely to see ostentatious display. It is not a money-miss-road country. It discovered oil not too long ago. Yet you can sense the purpose of governance: Security and welfare of the people. Accra is becoming dotted with classy buildings. Roads are being upgraded. The people go about in dignifying dedication to whatever they do for a living.


Agriculture enjoys the pride of place. Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is the mainstay of the economy. Cashew and oil palm are hardly mentioned. Surprisingly I found Pineapple is a strong forex earner. Pineapple fa.......anyway. Ghana is the second largest exporter of cocoa in the world after Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire in French being its working language). In Ghana the saying that "Cocoa is Ghana, Ghana is Cocoa" is common. Cocoa industry employs not less than 800,000 farm families spread across six out of the ten regions. The crop generates average of two billion dollars annually in foreign earnings. It accounts for 35-40% of the nation's income.


Cocoa industry in Ghana has benefited from reforms and forward looking interventions. The Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board was established in 1947 to promote the cultivation and export of the product. It has undergone various transformations ever since to make it responsive to developments in the sector. Government gives various subsidies and incentives to farmers to stimulate production. It provides a ready market for farmers so they do not have any challenge disposing their harvest and reaping from their sweat.


Some of the products derived from Cocoa are: animal feed, soft drink and alcohol, potash, jam and marmalade, mulch, cocoa butter, cocoa powder which have further uses in the making of chocolate, cakes, biscuits, soft soap, cosmetics, fertilizer etc.


Incentives given farmers include free seedlings subsidized fertilizers, pesticides, extension services and ready market. Cocoa thrives best in rain forest regions. It takes about five to six years to mature and start producing fruits. It reaches optimum production level in 15 years and remains fruitful for 50 years.


From the foregoing, you can draw lessons for Nigeria's agriculture. Even the United States subsidizes agriculture heavily and that is one of the reasons, her agric products are competitive in foreign markets. Removing subsidy on fertilizer as Government plan to do may not be a good move. Instead the system should be reformed to eliminate middlemen and ensure the product get to the farmers directly.


We were once a force to reckon with in cocoa production. Cocoa money built many infrastructure in present day South West Nigeria. OAU, Ile Ife, Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Cocoa House, Ibadan, many of the road networks in the West and the first TV Station in Africa were all built with proceeds from Cocoa export.


We have neglected cocoa production and agriculture in general because we found cheap money in oil. It is time to go back to the drawing board. For individuals, everyone does not need to be a cocoa farmer. Simple cottage industries can be set up to process cocoa into various products: Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Biscuit, Cocoa Cream etc. But first let us get back to the farm.


 

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