Instant reflections of life in Ghana today

Thursday February 8^th 2024

I came cross this article about illegal cocoa growing and selling – 

“Cocoa grown illegally in a Nigerian rainforest heads to companies that supply major chocolate makers. As the world’s demand for chocolate grows, farmers in Nigeria are moving into protected areas of a forest reserve that’s home to endangered species like African forest elephants. They say those traders include Singapore-based food supplier Olam Group and Nigeria’s Starlink Global and Ideal Limited, the latter of which acknowledged using cocoa supplies from the forest. A fewer number of those working in the forest also mentioned Tulip Cocoa Processing Ltd., a subsidiary of Dutch cocoa trader and producer Theobroma.

Those companies supply Nigerian cocoa to some of the world’s largest chocolate manufacturers including Mars Inc. and Ferrero, but because the chocolate supply chain is so complex and opaque, it’s not clear if cocoa from deforested parts of Omo Forest Reserve makes it into the sweets that they make, such as Snickers, M&Ms, Butterfinger and Nutella. Mars and Ferrero list farming sources on their websites that are close to or overlap with the forest but do not provide specific locations.”

Does it really matter? Yes it matters a lot. Cocoa contributes 3.41 Billion Ghana cedis – (0ver 220 million Sterling) to the economy of Ghana. This supports thousands of cocoa farmers, and gives the Government money to spend. Any illegal cocoa from Nigeria brings the industry in Ghana under threat- that’s families, education, hospitals and roads. It has to be stopped, but that is hard with so much corruption. Just another burden Africa has to bear.

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