The Cocoa Project

NGO News Africa offers a special report about the effect growing cacao in Ghana has on the environment:


Special Report: Carbon Payments and Ghana’s Cocoa Sector
by Emilie Filou and Alice Kenny


Cocoa is one of Ghana’s most important exports, but current farming techniques wreak havoc on both soil and surrounding forests. This is not only unsustainable for cocoa, but also contributes to global warming and biodiversity loss. EM examines efforts to promote sustainable cocoa farming by tapping into the global carbon markets.


Third in the Series: The Road to Accra, leading up to the October Katoomba Meeting in Accra, Ghana.


23 September 2009 | Can carbon save cocoa? That, some say, is the million-dollar question – or, more accurately, the $2.2 billion question, since industry insiders estimate that’s the value of carbon stored in Ghana’s cocoa landscapes.


That value could play an important role in ensuring the long-term survival of the nation’s cocoa industry, which faces existential threats in the wake of depleted soil fertility, reduced water supplies, and various diseases worldwide. Already Brazil, once the second-leading cocoa producer in the world, has seen its cash cow fall victim to a massive fungal disease. Now, instead of making money from cocoa, Brazil pays to import it.


Meanwhile Ghana – which is second only to Côte d’Ivoire in world cocoa production – has experienced a decades-long decline in cocoa yield per acre farmed, spurring farmers to abandon the livelihood that supported their families for generations. That decline and the accompanying flight from farming have been in remission for three years – thanks largely to the current high price of cocoa – but current agricultural techniques are unsustainable over the long haul.


Two-thirds of Ghana’s stored carbon lies in its high-forest region – and the country has already lost most of this, seeing it shrink from 8.2 million hectares in 1900 to less than 1.2 million hectares today.


The Cocoa Conundrum and the Sun Curse


Cocoa has always been rough on land. Under the best of circumstances, the cacao trees from which cocoa is harvested suck nutrients out of the soil at rates that require massive infusions of chemical fertilizer – which only 3% of cocoa famers use– and also require heavy doses of insecticides – which are also not in wide use.


Traditional cocoa farming techniques recommend leaving much of the standing forest intact, because traditional strains of cacao tree grow best in filtered sunlight. Over time, hybrid varieties have improved yields – beginning with strains that can be harvested twice per year instead of once. Newer plantations, however, are shifting to even newer hybrid trees that tolerate more direct sunlight. This makes it possible for farmers to chop down larger shade trees and plant more cacao trees – an apparent improvement over traditional farming because it, like earlier hybrids, offers higher yields…


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