{"id":171931,"date":"2024-04-16T07:26:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T07:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/"},"modified":"2024-04-16T07:26:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T07:26:54","slug":"ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has painted a gloomy picture of the potential loss of Ghana\u2019s premium position in the international cocoa market due to activities of illegal mining.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview on <strong>The Point of View<\/strong> with Bernard Avle, Prof. Michael Kwarteng, Director of the Anti-Corruption Galamsey Unit of COCOBOD, lamented the adverse impact of illegal mining, otherwise known as \u201cgalamsey,\u201d on cocoa production.<\/p>\n<p>His comments follow a warning by the former Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Henry Kokofu, regarding a potential embargo on Ghana\u2019s cocoa bean exports to the global market due to escalating activities of illegal miners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPer what we\u2019re seeing, if nothing is done to stop this act [illegal mining], we may lose even our position as the number one premium cocoa. In terms of quality, we all know that, in the whole world, Ghana\u2019s cocoa is the best. If we continue to this, then we\u2019re going to lose that, the quality of our cocoa beans is going to be affected seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know our Cocoa Research Institute is researching that, and I\u2019m sure they will come out with their findings. But per what we\u2019re all seeing, we stand the risk of losing, so he\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the EU\u2019s report of a possible ban on Ghana over cocoa grown on deforested land, he called for an assessment of the benefits of cocoa to Ghanaian citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we have not realized the benefits we\u2019re getting from cocoa production as a nation. COCOBOD is doing so much, cocoa production is offering us employment, even road construction. Our cocoa farmers rely on cocoa for their livelihoods. I think that as a nation, we should begin to assess the importance of cocoa production,\u201d he opined.<\/p>\n<p>Prof Kwarteng lamented the struggles cocoa farmers go through in obtaining water for irrigation on their farms as most water bodies have been polluted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no way we can put cocoa aside and concentrate on the minerals. All our water bodies are going, now for farmers to get water to nurse their crops is even difficult, some buy sachet water and take it to the farms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ghana has experienced the lowest cocoa production in the past 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Explore the world of impactful news with CitiNewsroom on WhatsApp!<\/p>\n<p>Click on the link to join the Citi Newsroom channel for curated, meaningful stories tailored just for YOU: <strong>https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaCYzPRAYlUPudDDe53x<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No spams, just the stories that truly matter! #StayInformed #CitiNewsroom #CNRDigital<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has painted a gloomy picture of the potential loss of Ghana\u2019s premium position in the international cocoa market due to activities of illegal mining. In an interview on The Point of View with Bernard Avle, Prof. Michael Kwarteng, Director of the Anti-Corruption Galamsey Unit of COCOBOD, lamented the adverse impact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has painted a gloomy picture of the potential loss of Ghana\u2019s premium position in the international cocoa market due to activities of illegal mining. In an interview on The Point of View with Bernard Avle, Prof. Michael Kwarteng, Director of the Anti-Corruption Galamsey Unit of COCOBOD, lamented the adverse impact [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-16T07:26:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-16T07:26:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":433,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-16T07:26:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/16\\\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has painted a gloomy picture of the potential loss of Ghana\u2019s premium position in the international cocoa market due to activities of illegal mining. In an interview on The Point of View with Bernard Avle, Prof. Michael Kwarteng, Director of the Anti-Corruption Galamsey Unit of COCOBOD, lamented the adverse impact [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-04-16T07:26:54+00:00","author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey","datePublished":"2024-04-16T07:26:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/"},"wordCount":433,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/","name":"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2024-04-16T07:26:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ghana-risks-losing-premium-cocoa-position-due-to-galamsey\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ghana risks losing premium cocoa position due to galamsey"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}