6. Cocoa

The importance of Cocoa to Ghana’s economy can hardly be overstated. In terms of the land area cultivated, as much as 1.45 million hectares (about 50 per cent of the total cultivated land area) was under cocoa production in 1970. Following the economic crisis of the late 1970s and the early 1980s and, in particular, the collapse of the export sector that followed, the share of cocoa in Ghana’s agricultural sector significantly declined, but has somehow revived during the recent decades, now occupying some 10% of the share of the total agricultural output. However, in terms of employment, the livelihoods of over 800,000 smallholder households are supported by this sector (Anim-Kwapong & Frimpong, 2004), and many others are engaged in trade, transportation and the processing of cocoa.