Resilience of the cocoa value chain in Ghana

Cocoa is a major ingredient in chocolate and has great importance for Switzerland, but also for Ghana because it is the second biggest producer of this commodity worldwide. Hence, the objective of our project is to understand to what extent the cocoa value chain can sustain major potential shocks and what kind of measures are needed to strengthen the Ghanaian part of the cocoa value chain.

First steps – pilot study

After being granted kick-start funds from the University Basel and Bühler, we conducted a preliminary assessment of the resilience of the cocoa value chain from the perspective of Ghana jointly with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.

Following an extensive literature review, interviews, and a workshop with key stakeholders of the cocoa value chain in Ghana were conducted between November 2015 and January 2016. The initial outcomes included a qualitative assessment of resilience of the major value chain activities of cocoa and a list of possible interventions for enhancing their resilience.

Key findings from the pilot study

Actors of the cocoa value chain are highly dependent on income generated by producing (farmers), trading (Licensed Buying Companies), and processing cocoa. The regulated domestic marketing of cocoa in Ghana provides little incentives to diversify activities which makes the cocoa value chain very susceptible to shocks.
Greater self-organisation, availability of early-warning systems and alternative income sources were interventions prioritised by key stakeholders to enhance the resilience of the cocoa value chain against drought and price fluctuations.

Project report Download"Assessing the resilience of the cocoa value chain in Ghana" (PDF, 2.1 MB)