By: Akosua Frema Frempong
Fairtrade Africa and Proforest Africa have launched a joint project at Offinso Kyebi in the Ashanti Region to promote deforestation-free cocoa production in Ghana. The initiative seeks to address the root causes of deforestation by improving cocoa farmers’ incomes in the Ashanti, Eastern, and Ahafo Regions while increasing their access to international markets.
Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer after Côte d’Ivoire, boasts 800,000 cocoa farmers. However, these farmers face significant challenges, including deforestation driven by income pressures and climate change, which result in declining productivity and profitability, threatening their livelihoods. Furthermore, many smallholder cocoa farmer cooperatives struggle to meet the requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will require imported products, including cocoa, to be deforestation-free by the end of 2025.
In response to these challenges, Fairtrade Africa and Proforest Africa are implementing a project to train smallholder cocoa farmers in regenerative agriculture practices, implement traceability systems, improve incomes, and advance gender equality and youth participation. These efforts will ensure compliance with the EUDR and facilitate access to the EU market.
The project launch at Offinso Kyebi brought together farmers, government institutions, and cocoa industry stakeholders. Head of Region for Fairtrade West Africa, Edward Akapire, emphasised that his organisation will collaborate with partners to support Ghanaian farmers in building a more sustainable cocoa sector.
“Fairtrade offers an alternative to conventional trade,” Mr. Akapire explained. “While conventional trade focuses on profit without regard for the environment or farmer profitability, Fairtrade prioritises making farming a profitable business for farmers while protecting the environment and ensuring thriving communities.” He added that Fairtrade’s mandate is to support and empower producer organisations to comply with Fairtrade standards, and this project is one such example, aiming to empower cocoa farmers to produce cocoa in an environmentally friendly manner without deforestation.
The Programmes Director of Fairtrade Africa, Chris Oluoch, highlighted the importance of EUDR compliance and the project’s focus on addressing smallholder challenges related to productivity, profitability, and environmental degradation. He emphasised Fairtrade Africa’s commitment to enabling producer access to markets, supporting sustainable farming systems, and addressing global challenges like climate change. He also stressed the importance of inclusion, bringing young people and women into the development process.
“This project aims to ensure that we have an elaborate, transparent traceability mechanism that can give assurance of the products we sell to the market that we have no deforestation happening on the ground,” Mr Oluoch stated. “We expect to see improved sustainability and productivity of cocoa and ensure that our cocoa can be able to fetch higher prices in the out markets.” He confirmed the collaboration with Proforest, highlighting their expertise in good agricultural practices and environmental sustainability.
The Head of Programmes for Proforest Africa, James Parker, stressed the need for farmers to reintegrate regenerative agricultural practices to boost cocoa production while adhering to international regulations. “It is necessary, therefore, to address these risks in the main cocoa production landscapes by leveraging existing efforts to promote sustainable farming through regenerative, climate-resilient practices and by enhancing farmers’ ability to meet EU land use and conservation requirements,” Mr Parker noted.
The Partnership for Deforestation-free Cocoa Supply Chains project is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and Fairtrade Germany. More than 14 thousand smallholder cocoa farmer families have been targeted for the project.
