Climate change, its impact on Ghanaian cocoa production and the way forward
Although Ghana is the world's leading producer of cocoa, the country still relies on rain-fed agriculture. However, in the climate change that is consistent and unpredictable is called climate change, thismeans that the alternative must be accepted with force. Of course, irrigation is another option, but that too has becomeimpossible due to the negative effects of illegal small-scale mining, which is practiced mostly on waterways in Ghana.
Unfortunately, we depend on rainfed agriculture as a country. Now, COCOBOD is piloting, in fact, we have done a pilot at a time when we need to deliverfull irrigation. "The costs that we have tested are a little higher, so it is important to find one that farmers will believe is doing good. It is a mathematical thing,you have to do a cost-benefit analysis, so yes the impact of climate change informs our company, said Fiifi Boafo.
Fiifi Boafo works at the cocoa industry regulator in Ghana, the Cocoa Board, as a General Affairs Officer. He has raised alarm about the damaging and negative effects of climate change on the industry.
He added that all concernedmust act quickly to avert thelooming crisis that no one ispaying attention to. Speaking to GhanaWeb as part of a special project on climate change in collaboration with the Centerfor Innovation and Development of Journalism,Fiifi Boafo said the idea is not good if immediate action is not taken.
Big, big. The impact of climate change on our industry. If you look at our production process, that has changed. In fact, our research department is developing a manual on how we educate and inform farmers. "During the year we know that during this time in this season,we have rain and we have our harmattan at certain times. But these days you also have rain in December. In June/July wherewe used to have rain, now we have dry season. Even when you need to apply fertilizer; because if you apply granular fertilizersyou need rain to dissolve them to get into the soil to get production, you can't do thatbecause the principles havechanged. You hope that you willget rain in time, you put it and there is no rain and it affects the production. So its impact(climate change) is huge. "In the meantime, you are spending money, preparing, doing your pruning, sprayingyour chemicals that should help the flowers and everything but because everything does not accept the rain n 'due to climate change, it affects you.production. "Because the only critic will say because you donot invest in the company that is why we are not productive,but the truth is that it has not met the rainy season as we know it, why you lost . "And that's just to give you an idea of ??the impact of climate change on our industry." Fiifi cried. Cocoa is Ghana's most important currency that contributes to the country'seconomy, providing employment to over 800,000 people, most of whom are farmers.
But the effects of climate change, imports and other factors, including illegal small-scale mining, have become threats to the cocoa sector in Ghana. According to some experts, Ghana may disappearas the second largest cocoa producing country in the world unless drastic measures are taken. Contaminated water affectsirrigation plans of cocoa farmers Also, Fiifi Boafo said that illegal logging and mining activities,which are carried out in manyof the country's forests, are destroying the land and polluting rivers and other water bodies. "One issue we foundwhich is a big problem inirrigation is galamsey where the streams that we are supposed to use for irrigation are sopolluted that you can't use it. trying to introduce because now a, you have to use a welland dig a well and everythingand sometimes the water quality and level is not enough to do what you want to do. So that increases our costs.
It's time to protect our environment When Fiifi Boafo was asked if this is the new reality of the cocoa sector in Ghana, he replied: No, we must protect our environment, it is important. It is important to protect our environment because if you look at our landscape, the cocoa is produced in our forest, and it is because the forest area iswhere the rain falls. better. But, in a situation where we are cutting down our forests and extracting illegal wealth, it will have an impact on our productivity as a country.
Ghana has experienced a revolution in cocoa production over the past two years. From 2016 to 2017, there was a decrease in production per metric ton from 969,000 to 766,977 in 2019/2020. Fortunately, production has increased, reaching the million metric ton mark in the 2020/2021 production season. Researchers fear that if practices, such as illegal mining, which lead to deforestation and water pollution, are not checked, the number of cocoa producers will decline to the near future. What is climate change?
According to the United Nations, climate change refers to long-term changes in temperature and climate. Such changes can be natural, due to changes in the activity of the sun or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activity has been the main cause of climate change, mainlydue to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Howclimate change affects our lives
Climate change can affect our health, our ability to producefood, our homes, our safety and our jobs. Some of us already have climate problems, such as those living in small island nations and other developing countries. Conditions such as sea level rise and salt waterintrusion have reached the point where entire communities have to relocate, and prolongeddroughts put people at risk of starvation. In the future, the number of "climate refugees" will increase. This report was produced as part of the Centerfor Journalism Innovation and Development's 2023 Climate Change Fellowship with funding from the Center for Investigative Journalism'sClimate Change and News Media Project.
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