Chocolate industry makes billions as Ghanaian cocoa farmers seek a living wages
Ghanaian cocoa farmer Kwame Mensah says he has forgotten how the premium chocolate made from his cocoa beans tastes. “A suitable size bar costs twice what I earn from a kilogram of cocoa.” My Joy Online reports that Kwame is among the 58% of Ghana’s cocoa farmers who live below the extreme poverty line.
According to the 2022 Cocoa Barometer, an overwhelming majority of farmers and their families live in poverty: the average cocoa farmer earns between $0.40 and $0.45 USD per day, whereas the living wage in Ghana is estimated as of 2022 to be $13.50 USD per day. Meanwhile, Ghana supplies 20% of the world’s cocoa. As a significant contributor to the global chocolate industry, with a revenue of over $180 billion in 2023, there is no excuse why cocoa farmers like Kwame live in such extreme poverty.
In an organized effort to take matters into their own hands, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reports that 30 farmers submitted a grievance to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), the government agency that controls the cocoa industry.
Challenging a broken system
Corporate Accountability Lab, one of the organizations that submitted the grievance on behalf of the farmers, states:
The grievance underscores the very environmental and social issues that COCOBOD is mandated to monitor and resolve, but has failed to do so. In what may be the first use since the mechanism’s inception in 2018, this grievance will test COCOBOD’s promise to give cocoa-growing communities a voice.
The COCOBOD, established in 1947, is Ghanaian cocoa’s sole seller and buyer and is under increasing scrutiny as it faces calls to address critical social and environmental challenges. Since receiving a $600 million USD loan from the African Development Bank in 2019 to boost cocoa production and improve farmer livelihoods, COCOBOD has been required to implement an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) designed to mitigate environmental, social, health, and safety risks in the sector.
Despite ESMS’s promise to improve conditions, reports indicate little change in the cocoa sector’s challenges. Many farmers still earn below a living wage, deforestation continues at an alarming rate, pesticide misuse remains rampant, and hazardous child labor practices are pervasive.