The European Union has dismissed claims that Ghana’s cocoa has been banned from international markets.
According to reports, Ghana’s Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has warned that due to new legislation, Ghana may soon be unable to export cocoa and coffee to Europe.
The law requires European countries to develop regulations to ensure that commodities are harvested, extracted, and processed in a sustainable manner.
Speaking at the second edition of Orange Cocoa Day 2022 in Accra, Irchad Razaarly, the European Union Ambassador to Ghana, said the move should not be interpreted as a threat to Ghana’s cocoa sector.
“Globally, there is a growing call for more sustainable cocoa production.” And our European citizens are increasingly demanding that cocoa and other commodities be produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner.
This explains the EU’s afforestation and forest degradation legislation and should not be interpreted as a threat to Ghana’s cocoa.”
“There is no prohibition on Ghanaian cocoa.” On the contrary, we want more Ghanaian cocoa, and we support Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire among all producers who meet these standards.”
Her Excellency Katja Lasseur, Deputy Dutch Ambassador to Ghana, also announced the Netherlands’ commitment to efficient land use in Ghana.
She revealed that the Netherlands spent 100 billion Euros last year on agricultural exports.
“Last year alone, our total agricultural exports were worth 100 billion Euros, which is made possible, among other things, because stakeholders work to ensure responsible and optimum land utilization, which is why we chose this theme because it will help to share our knowledge, technology, and investment opportunities to support efficient land use.”
In his reflection on the cases presented on how the cocoa sector uses land and tree tenure policies in the cocoa landscape, the minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, emphasized the roadmap that the government is advocating to reduce deforestation in the country.
He stated that Ghana has put forward workable policies to combat illegal mining in the country.
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He believes that the government, through the Ghana Cocoa Board, is collaborating on a data management system that takes into account the socioeconomic needs of farmers along the cocoa value chain.
“We are also putting in place the joint framework for action.” Which was signed in 2017 by 36 cocoa and chocolate producing companies as part of the cocoa and forest initiative to stop deforestation and forest degradation in the cocoa value chain.” “The signatory cocoa and chocolate producing companies have committed to sorting cocoa from forest reserves under this program.” To that end, the Ghana Cocoa Board has created a data management and operational platform that includes socioeconomic data from all cocoa farmers and other key stakeholders in the value chain for Ghana’s entire cocoa landscape.”
Leticia Yankey, the founder and CEO of Cocoa Mma Co-operative, highlighted the difficulties faced by cocoa farmers, particularly women. She linked the problems to the ancient customary land ownership system. “Because of the fear of losing the land, we farmers find it difficult to rehabilitate our old and diseased farms.”
When creating the documentation, the link between land ownership and tree tenure comes up. Whereas landowners typically insist that “farmers have no control over ergonomic trees on the land.”
The second edition of the Orange Cocoa Day held on Monday, October 3, was organized by Solidarid and brought together key stakeholders such as Cargil Ghana, Sustainable Trade Initiative, Merida, Tony’s Chocolonely, and many others to brainstorm ways to improve the cocoa value chain.
On the same day, vendors, exhibitors, and event managers mounted exhibition boots to display some cocoa products.
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