The Cadbury Cocoa Ambassadors
Back in September this year, we told you about the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership's (CCP's) launch of the Cocoa Ambassadors Programme in Ghana. Ten university students have been recruited and trained by the CCP to educate young people about the cocoa industry and encourage them to join it.
Two of these talented ambassadors, Joseph Gakpo and Ebenezer Annoh, wrote an article charting the future of cocoa versus oil in Ghana. It was published in The Daily Graphic, a leading Ghanaian newspaper. It is an impassioned, informed article and we wanted to share the highlights with you...
"Recently, Ghana was honoured with a visit from the President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, His Excellency Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He said that although counted among the rich oil nations, his country has realised the need to harness its agricultural potential in order to forestall an economic crisis when their oil reserves run dry. The President visited various cocoa-related industries in Ghana, because cocoa could be the anchor for harnessing the agricultural potential of Equatorial Guinea.
"As we pondered the words of the President, we also wondered about Ghana's oil reserves and cocoa.
"Ghana's cocoa sector contributes about $1.1 billion into the economy on a yearly basis and there is a huge demand for the country's cocoa because of its premium quality.
"By 1936, Ghana was producing 50% of the world's cocoa output, but this has now declined to 20%. There are several reasons for this, but recent research commissioned by Cadbury International and conducted by the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Ghana, and the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, revealed that the future of cocoa production is threatened by the fact that the majority of young people in cocoa growing areas have migrated to big towns in search of jobs, leaving cocoa production to the aged.
"Our impression is that the threat to cocoa production is about to heighten as Ghana prepares to drill oil by the end of this year. Our fear is that the small number of young people still working in cocoa production will move to the oil drilling areas in search of jobs.
"Now more than ever, there should be a concerted effort by stakeholders (and in this, all Ghanaians should be stakeholders), to make cocoa production attractive to young people.
"On August 30 this year the Vice President of Ghana met a delegation from Cadbury, Kraft Foods and the Fairtrade Foundation UK. He affirmed the government's determination to maintain cocoa as the number one revenue earner for the country. As young people of Ghana, we believe that the future holds many opportunities for us with oil flowing alongside a sustainable cocoa industry."
As opportunities arise and times change in Ghana, it is great to see the passion of the Cadbury Cocoa Ambassadors, and the inspiring work being done by the CCP to secure the future of Fairtrade Ghanaian cocoa.
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