• EU launches €2M deforestation-free cocoa project in Ghana
• Targets 5,000 farmers, 1,000 hectares agroforestry rehab
• Aims to meet 2025 EU import rules, protect key export sector
  

The European Union (EU) has launched a three-year program in Ghana aimed at making cocoa production more sustainable, traceable, and compliant with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

In a statement posted on its website, the EU mission in Ghana indicated the new partnership is being implemented by a consortium of four civil society organizations focused on forest governance: Solidaridad West Africa, Tropenbos Ghana, Taylor Crabbe Initiative, and Rights & Advocacy Initiatives Network (RAIN).

The program, named the "Deforestation-Free Cocoa Project," is funded by a 2 million euro ($2.3 million) budget, 99% of which is contributed by the EU. It aims to directly support approximately 5,000 cocoa farmers and involves rehabilitating over 1,000 hectares of old plantations by integrating agroforestry systems between 2025 and 2028.

Interventions will target 60 communities in the Sefwi-Wiawso, Asunafo-Asutifi, and Juaboso-Bia areas, located in the country's northwest. "Our goal is to curb cocoa-led deforestation through sustainable intensification of existing cocoa farms, while helping farmers diversify their livelihoods through alternative income generating activities," said Eric Agare, Country Representative for Solidaridad Ghana, as relayed by the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

The issue of deforestation is not new to West Africa's cocoa sector. A 2023 report in the academic journal Nature Food indicated that cocoa farming was directly linked to the loss of 386,000 hectares of forest within protected areas in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana between 2000 and 2020.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), expected to take full effect by the end of 2025, will prohibit the import of agricultural products, including cocoa, that originate from deforested land. Compliance is critical for Ghana's cocoa sector, given that the European economic bloc is its main export market. Data compiled on the TradeMap platform shows Ghana earned nearly $2.9 billion in exports of cocoa and cocoa derivatives in 2024, with 58% of that revenue coming from EU countries.

Stéphanas Assocle