Cocoa farming in Ghana: an overview

Ghana is the world's second-largest cocoa producer, after Cote d'Ivoire. Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) was introduced to the Gold Coast in the late 19th century by Tetteh Quarshie, who returned from Fernando Po (now Bioko, Equatorial Guinea) with seedlings around 1879. Today cocoa is the country's leading export crop and employs approximately 800,000 smallholder farmer families. Cocoa is grown mainly in the forest belt of southern Ghana — Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Central, Brong-Ahafo and Volta regions. The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) regulates buying, quality control and pricing. Common pests include the cocoa capsid (Sahlbergella singularis) and the cocoa swollen-shoot virus disease (CSSVD), which causes significant yield losses.