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Ghana farmers say cocoa weather has improved

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Farmers see increased cocoa pods on trees

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Concerns persist over pests and smuggling

By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila

ACCRA, July 18 (Reuters) - Ghanaian cocoa farmers expect

a boost in the 2024/2025 season starting in October after a

sharp fall in production this season contributed to boosting

global cocoa prices to record levels.

Ghana witnessed one of its poorest harvests in a decade this

season, attributed to harsh weather conditions resulting from El

Nino, rampant smuggling and swollen shoot disease.

An increase in production would not only help Ghana's

finances, but also the global chocolate industry that has been

grappling with tight supply.

More than two dozen cocoa farmers, officials from regulator

COCOBOD and buyers forecast a rebound in output next season

thanks to improved weather and some rehabilitated from diseases

and illegal gold mining.

The swollen shoot disease remains a concern, with the

International Cocoa Organisation estimating the majority of one

of Ghana's major growing regions remained infected.

However, farmers in several cocoa-growing regions told

Reuters that rains have largely been timely and interspersed

with sunshine since March, creating the ideal weather necessary

for cocoa's flowering and pod development.

"This year really looks great. I have not seen pods this

much since 2020 and I see harvest being better next season,"

said George Opoku Koduah, a cocoa farmer in Ghana's western

south Prestea district, a major cocoa growing area.

Koduah said he expected raise output to 1,000 in 2024/25

from 600 bags harvested this season if he could prevent black

pod disease attack by August - when it often strikes.

Theophilus Tamakloe from central Ghana's Assin Fosu

community said he expected to harvest 400 to 600 bags of cocoa

next season after he harvested 180 bags this season, judging

from the pods on his farm.

However, farmers said they remained concerned abut

inadequate fertilizer and pesticides supply, low wholesalecocoa

prices, delayed payments and bean smuggling.

FERTILIZER AND PESTICIDES

Ghana's cocoa regulator supplies farmers with pesticides,

fungicides and other chemicals but farmers in eastern Ghana's

Volta and Oti regions said delays in fertilizer and pesticide

supplies contributed to low harvests during the past two

seasons.

Stephen Mensah who farms in the Likpe Agborzume area in

eastern Ghana, said tight supplies meant that rather than spray

his two-hectare cocoa farm with a black pod-curing fungicide

every two weeks as recommended, he was only able to do it once a

month.

A spokesperson for COCOBOD said the regulator had enough

chemicals in stock but farmers were supplied on need-to-use

basis to prevent misuse, smuggling and hoarding.

Ghana finances bean purchases from farmers with an annual

syndicated loan. Usually agreed at the start of the season in

October, this season's loan got delayed with Cocobod ultimately

getting only $600 million of the $800 million it signed for.

Licensed cocoa buyers said insufficient funding led to

smuggling in border regions with Togo and Ivory Coast, where

cocoa fetches more than twice Ghana's farmgate price.

Nana Johnson Mensah Kagya, a major farmer in Ghana's western

south region with around 80 hectares of plantations, said he

feared output recovery would be eroded by smuggling, which

reduces the officially reported output, and consequently funds

allocated for regulated bean purchases.