the future
As you have learnt in the previous sections, Ghana is one of the world’s top cocoa producers. But its cocoa farmers are facing some big challenges:
- A recent survey showed that the cocoa farms produce only 40% of what they could. The trees are getting old, and farmers often lack the information and resources that would help them to produce more.
- Young people don’t want to become cocoa farmers. They want to move to towns and cities because they believe there are more opportunities there. So the average age of the cocoa farmers is now 50.
This is bad news for the farmers, since low productivity means they earn less. It is bad news for Ghana, since it depends so heavily on cocoa exports. And it is bad news for chocolate companies like Cadbury, since they buy a lot of Ghana’s high quality cocoa beans.
So what can be done to help the farmers, and encourage young people to stay on the farms? The best way to find out is to ask them. Watch this video for an example:
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