Cocoa is a major source of income for Ghana
The agricultural sector in Ghana plays a significant role in the country’s economy, when it comes to cocoa production, which provides employment, serves home needs, and export to earn foreign exchange.
Even though large tons of cocoa beans are exported to many European countries, including Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Denmark, and France, etc; Ghanaian cocoa farmers are very poor, working and living in horrible conditions.
According to the Bank of Ghana in its 2019 annual report, exports of cocoa beans and products increased by 5.0 percent to US$2.29 billion in 2019.
Taking into consideration the billions Ghana generates from the exportation of cocoa and yet, the country suffers developments, we need to ask ourselves,” Where does the money go?”
Why the European countries that purchase cocoa beans are developed than African countries producing the cocoa beans?
This is the question every intelligent Ghanaian must ask the government because something is terribly wrong. Ghana will continue to suffer setbacks in development if this corruption doesn’t come to an end.
It is sad to acknowledge the fact that despite billions of dollars the Ghanaian government makes in the exportation of cocoa, the country remains very poor with a high rate of unemployment, while the chocolate-producing countries in Europe have employed thousands.
Large tons of cocoa beans leaving the ports of West Africa are taken to Switzerland, Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Denmark, and France, of which it is used to manufacture chocolate products, with Belgium as the largest chocolate exporter in the world, making over one billion Euros every year.
Belgium doesn’t harvest cocoa, they only purchase cocoa beans, however, the chocolate production sector has an annual turnover of 4 billion Euros, which represents 10% of employment in the food industry.
Even though chocolate production generates billions of Euros to sustain the economy of the country, the Belgium government is fighting hard against poverty, child labor, and deforestation, in the African countries its government purchases cocoa beans.
Frankly speaking, the Ghanaian government doesn’t care about child labor in the country; the reason child slavery is very common in the mining, agricultural, and fishing industries.
If Ghanaian leaders will pretend everything is normal without analyzing and evaluating their performance in the country, they will fail and the common people will always suffer.
While Ghanaian politicians are on a visit to Europe and America, they enjoy the beautiful environment and atmosphere, yet they are never inspired to do the same for the common Ghanaians because of corruption.
We need to ask ourselves why European countries don’t have cocoa trees; they only purchase the raw beans and processed them, yet richer than Ghana? This is enough to acknowledge the fact that there is massive corruption in the agriculture industry in Ghana.
The Ghana government will not solve the challenges facing the cocoa farmers, yet, they steal the money the country earns from the exportation of cocoa beans. It’s a disgrace that in the abundance of such rich resources the common Ghanaian continues to suffer.
Ghana needs an intelligent and efficient government to utilize the country’s resources, to create employment for the youth and university graduates that many are still at home years after graduation, and above all the need to improve the health and educational sectors.
