Rolling out climate smart Cocoa through public-private partnership in Ghana: A Framework highlighting the step-by-step procedure towards climate smart cocoa finance in Ghana

The cocoa industry has been the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy over the years through the provision of revenues from foreign exchange earnings and the generation of employment for farmers who are mainly small holders. Climate change is a phenomenon that has been taking place throughout history but over the last century it has accelerated and scientists believe it is increasingly due to human activities (Cook et al, 2016). The climate in Ghana has likewise been affected and it is having an impact on agricultural production and therefore cocoa. Thus, cocoa farming areas have been delineated into three climatic impact zones – Cope, Adjust and Transform. The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) through the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ghana together with the Rainforest Alliance has recently documented and aligned Climate Smart Cocoa practices across the three impact zones to help farmers mitigate the effects of climate change. This document is a step-by-step process to facilitate the partnership among public and private sector financing of Climate smart cocoa (CSC)

Implementing guide for planting, replanting and tree diversification in cocoa systems

Peer Revie

Unlocking Barriers to Adoption and Scaling of Climate Smart Cocoa Practices in Ghana

Cocoa production in West Africa has been adversely affected by climate change at varying degrees. The cocoa farming areas in Ghana vary according to severity in impact of climate change and has been delineated into three climatic impact zones namely; Transform, cope and adjust zones. For years, cocoa industry technical experts have recommended Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) without considering the different farmer typologies across the climate impact zones. The Consultative Group for international Agricultural Research (CGIAR) through the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ghana recently documented and aligned climate smart cocoa (CSC) practices across the three impact zones to help farmers mitigate against the effect of Climate change. The aim of this study was to identify farmer typologies in the different climate impact zones and how this affect adoption of CSC recommendations. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire from 270 cocoa farming household on socio-economic characteristics and intensity of CSC implementation across. Preliminary findings from a principal component analysis using the R software statistical package showed three cluster of Cocoa farmers in the impact zones. The results also show varying intensity of implementation of CSC practices which determines the efficiency of the clusters. The first cluster of cocoa farmers is characterized as the least efficient in production in terms of Cocoa productivity (248.2793 kg/ha) and Cocoa income (USD 981.3244 per annuum) while the second cluster of farmers are the most efficient with the highest cocoa income (USD 3000.309 per annum) and Cocoa productivity (583.6498 kg/ha). The third Cluster represent farmers with the most resources in terms of land under cocoa (3.7 ha) and hired out labor (≃4 people from the household). In all clusters, access to hybrid seedlings, financial challenges and extension service delivery were identified as challenges hindering adoption of CSC recommendation. It is recommended that farmer typologies aligned with CSC recommendations in the climate impact zones should be taken into consideration for effective adoption

Policy document and brief for engagement with government and private sector in Cocoa: A case of Ghana

There is a gap today in funding for investment in developing countries. A recent assessment of financing in the agriculture sector in Ghana based on existing financial sector laws showed that, there is currently no distinct policy to enable lending to the agricultural sector. However, with an ever increasing need to address the challenges of climate change, the need for such policies and resulting finance opportunities for smallholder farmers and other supply chain actor will only increase and become more urgent. Unchanged, most needed investments to address the growing challenges will be made by the private sector or by the farmers themselves. Therefore, public actors, including COCOBOD, need to play a key role in building an enabling environment, including the development of supportive policies, institutions and making matching-funds available. Reducing supply chain risk and improving resilience through such efforts that signal a more secure and favourable framework is key to enabling private actors, especially the more financially vulnerable, to invest. Existing policy initiatives and programs geared towards creating an enabling environment for finance to the sector are currently led by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and other sector agencies and financial NGO’