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Why is cocoa farming important?
Cocoa, Theobroma cacao , is a very important crop because it provides food, income, employment, industrial raw material and resources for poverty reduction [1]. Besides the provision of livelihood for millions of smallholder farmers, cocoa also provides raw material for the multibillion global chocolate industry.
How important is cocoa to Ghana’s economy?
Cocoa is the most important agricultural commodity Ghana produces and the mainstay of Ghana’s economy. Cocoa is Ghana’s second leading foreign exchange earner, worth about 30 percent of all revenue from export and responsible for about 57 percent of overall agricultural export.
How has cocoa farming helped to develop Ghana?
Cocoa serves as a major source of living for most people in Ghana. In the rural areas, most adults are farmers and have plantation farms which provide them with an income. The world market have increased the prices of cocoa so it has served as a major source of revenue for the people in Ghana who cultivate cocoa.
Why is cocoa important to Africa economically?
Two million family farms in some of West Africa’s poorest areas produce 70 percent of the world’s cocoa. The cocoa sector is a major engine of regional economic activity, generating significant export revenue and providing livelihood for 20 million people.
Is cocoa farming profitable in Ghana?
800,000 small scale cocoa farmers make up 60% of the country’s agricultural base. However, despite their importance to Ghana’s development, many cocoa farming families live in poverty. Cocoa farmers earn a per capita daily income of approximately USD $0.40-$0.45 on cocoa.
What is cocoa farming?
“Cocoa” is the product of beans harvested from the cacao tree. Several times a year, farmers harvest “pods” from their cacao trees, with each pod yield- ing approximately 50 cocoa beans. The farmer often places the wet beans in a pile, so that they ferment naturally before drying.
What affects cocoa farmers in Ghana?
The regression analysis showed that land size, member of farmer association, experience in cocoa farming, awareness of organic cocoa and access to extension service are the main factors that influence cocoa farmers’ decision to adopt organic cocoa practices.
How was cocoa brought to Ghana?
Cocoa cultivation began in Ghana, according to the legend, fostered by a blacksmith called Tetteh Quarshie, who, in 1895, returned to his farm in the Eastern Region of Ghana with cocoa beans “in his pocket” from the island of Fernando Po (now Bioko) in Equatorial Guinea where there was already intensive plantation …
Who owns cocoa farms in Ghana?
Ambitious cocoa farmer Nana Aduna II – a traditional ruler, who inherited his 80-acre plantation two decades ago – is well aware of the difficulties. He is among a number of Ghanaian entrepreneurs who are keen to seize the opportunity to process cocoa in Ghana itself, before exporting a more lucrative finished product.
How did cocoa get to Ghana?
Who brought cocoa to Ghana?
Tetteh Quarshie
The victory of cocoa in Africa started with Tetteh Quarshie. Legend has it that he secretly brought the cocoa to Ghana and, by doing so, laid the foundation for one of the most important Ghanaian and African export products.
How did cocoa production start in Ghana?
What are the main cash crops in Ghana?
cocoa
Where in Ghana is cocoa beans grown?
Cocoa cultivation is not native to the country; Ghana’s cocoa cultivation, however, is noted within the developing world to be one of the most modeled commodities and valuables. [4] Cocoa production occurs in the country’s forested areas: Ashanti , Brong-Ahafo , Central Region , Eastern Region , Western Region , and Volta , where rainfall is 1,000-1,500 millimeters per year.
Who introduced cocoa first in Ghana, West Africa?
In 1870 Tetteh Quarshie introduced the cocoa crops to Ghana (a pre-independence Ghanaian) which today constitute one of the major export crops of the Ghanaian economy. In 1847 Joseph Fry creates a moldable paste of cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter.
Where do cocoa beans come from?
Cocoa is the product that is produced from it. Seventy percenr (70%) of the world’s cocoa beans come from four countries in West Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon.