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Part 3: Markets, Middlemen, and “Chocolate Politicians” – Governance & Policy Frameworks
In our last essay, we compared production stats and learned that dominance in cocoa output hasn’t automatically enriched farmers.
Sep 22
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
Part 4: Cocoa’s Broken Promises – Can Farmers Ever Share in the Wealth?
Thus far, we have journeyed through history, economics, and policy, laying bare how Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Indonesia cultivated…
Sep 15
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
August 2025
Part 2: The Bitter-Sweet Numbers, Cocoa Production and Cocoa-Chocolate Industry Global Market Dynamics
Previously, we traced how cocoa became a pillar of five nations and noted the paradox of “big industry, small farmer gains.” We saw Ghana and Ivory…
Aug 25
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
2
Part 1: Roots in Rich Soil, Historical Significance and Economic Importance of the Five Biggest Cocoa-Producing Economies
comparing the cocoa and chocolate industries of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Indonesia across four key parameters
Aug 11
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
4
July 2025
Part 5: Land, Forests, and Future Generations, The Social and Environmental Costs of Ghana's Proposed State Cocoa Farms
Over the past four essays, one, two, three, and four, we have critically examined Ghana’s plan to establish 200,000 hectares of state-owned cocoa farms…
Jul 28
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
3
Part 4: Too Much of a Good Thing? Oversupply and the Risk of a Cocoa Glut with Ghana's state cocoa farms: Agenda
In the previous essay, we delved into how Ghana’s monopoly control over cocoa marketing, now coupled with plans for state-run production, could further…
Jul 21
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
1
Part 3: One Buyer, No Escape, The Cocoa Monopoly and Cocoa Farmers' Welfare in Ghana
In the previous essay, I discussed Ghana’s misaligned priorities in choosing to invest in state cocoa farms over food security, and how that decision…
Jul 14
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
2
Part 2: Cash Crops (Cocoa) Over Food Crops - Ghana’s Misplaced Priorities with its 200,000 hectares state-run cocoa farms
In the first essay of this series, I explored how Ghana’s plan for 200,000 hectares of state-run cocoa farms creates a conflict of interest, with the…
Jul 9
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
2
June 2025
Part 1: Ghana’s Cocoa Regulator Becomes a Competitor – A Conflict of Interest
Ghanaian government’s contentious plan to establish 200,000 hectares of state-owned cocoa farms
Jun 30
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
3
Part 4: Until the Lion Tells His Story (The Cocoa Farmer)
…….. Global Parallels and the Way Forward
Jun 16
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
Part 3: Tracing the Cocoa Value Chain – Who Earns What?
Previously, I argued that calling our farmers “independent businessmen” is more convenient fiction than reality.
Jun 9
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
May 2025
Part 2: Monkey Dey Work, Baboon Dey Chop: The Myth of the Independent Cocoa Farmer
In the previous piece, I scrutinised a pension scheme that treats farmers like formal employees in one breath and like second-class citizens in the…
May 26
•
Kwame Asamoah Kwarteng
1
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