68 years of cocoa farming and we’ve never tasted chocolate - Cocoa farmers lament

Ghanaian cocoa farmers have shared that upon many years of growing cocoa, they have never tasted chocolates their entire lives.

In Bekwai, a town in the Ashanti Region, Maame Yaa Serwaa disclosed that in her 30 years of growing the cash crop, she has never tasted the popular refined product from cocoa beans, chocolate.

With a cocoa farm of 14 acres, Maame Yaa Serwaa who is expected to be rich by all standards is struggling to care for her farm and sadly only gets the chance to taste a beverage made from cocoa if her children in the ‘big town’ purchase her a tin.

The mother of 6 made this revelation in an interview with Happy98.9FM’s Don Kwabena Prah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.

“I have not tasted anything made from refined cocoa beans in my 30 years of growing cocoa. I have never tasted chocolates. The only refined product from cocoa I have tasted is Milo which my children buy for me. Aside from that, I have not tasted chocolates or any sweets produced from cocoa.

Another farmer in Adansi Akrofuom, Ashanti Region who has consistently grown his 25-acre cocoa farm for over 38 years, Agya Twumasi said, “I have never seen or eaten chocolates in my life. I only chew the dried cocoa beans which have been recommended to us by the extension officers who say it is healthy”.

Similarly, a cocoa farmer from the Twifo Prafo district, Gideon Owusu who had to stop farming to pursue nursing disclosed, “I never knew of chocolates until I entered nursing training. When we were younger, the closest I got to cocoa products was cocoa powder. I never knew about chocolates to talk about the different brands”.

Aside from not having tasted chocolates in their lives, most of these families with large families added that they have never benefited from cocoa scholarships and survive on a hand to hand basis as they make no profits, but they keep farming because they have the passion to do so.