The government of Ghana will purchase land for cocoa plantations

Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson announced on Friday that Ghana’s government intends to purchase 200,000 hectares of land for cocoa plantations by the end of the year in an attempt to increase production.

Due in part to climate change, tree disease, and illicit gold mining that has destroyed large areas of its cocoa belt, the output of the world’s second-largest cocoa producer has dropped to a two-decade low.

The government would purchase cocoa land to supplement current smallholder farmer operations and guarantee sustainable growth in the sector, according to a statement released by Ghana’s ministry of finance on X.

As cocoa production has dropped from a peak of 1 million metric tons to roughly 500,000 tons in recent years, Forson, who is on the board of the regulator, emphasized the necessity for aggressive initiatives to address the steep loss.