Why Ghana Doesn't Have the Full Value of its Cocoa Beans - And How This Could Change
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 2021-06-30

West Africa supplies 70% of the cocoa beans globally, but most of the value in a chocolate bar is generated in Europe and North America. This is despite a growing demand for consumer chocolate in West Africa, some of which is satisfied through imports. Looking at the Ghanaian cocoa–chocolate sector, we evaluate how financialisation of food systems constrains opportunities for Ghana to expand its chocolate production and hence its ability to move into higher value addition. We show that financialisation acts as a limiting factor to upgrading with contradicting tendencies. We propose a solution for the Ghanaian cocoa-chocolate sector which preserves foreign exchange earnings while utilising Ghana’s existing cocoa marketing system to support a growing domestic chocolate industry.