Only 5% profit goes to farmers after a bar of chocolate is sold
Ghana is second-largest cocoa producer
Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion (GIPC), Yofi Grant, has said Ghana could generate up to US$20 billion from the exportation of cocoa if local manufacturers adopt value addition mechanisms.
He lamented that even though Ghana is the second-largest producer of cocoa, it only derives about US$2.3 billion from cocoa exports annually.
He describes this as worrying, adding that this will boost Ghana’s exports marginally.
He was speaking to the media at The Chocolatarium – The business of Chocolate summit as part of the National Chocolate Week organized by the Ghana Tourism Authority said.
“Ghana is the second-largest producer of cocoa. But every year we make about 2, 3 billion, but if we structurally build an ecosystem where we can add value to the cocoa and produce chocolate, then we can be making 20billion a year out of the chocolate alone, which is much more significant than the 2billion we make just selling the beans.”
Yofi Grant further intimated that the two major producers of cocoa, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire generate less than US$7 billion out of cocoa adding, “If you look at the chocolate industry which is estimated to grow beyond US$160 billion in 2022 if the group that produces majority of the beans are nowhere in that equation, then there is an imbalance. So, it is important that we add more value to our cocoa and create more value for our farmers.”
He added that “For every bar of chocolate that is sold the farmer makes less than 5% so if we can add value to the cocoa to create powder, drinks, polyphenols and all that, that have much better export value, then we can create value for the farmer.”
The Business of Chocolate Summit brought together partners to devise means to sustain chocolate sales in Ghana.
