Sustaining Ghana’s cocoa sector through environmentally smart agricultural practices: an assessment of the environmental impacts of cocoa production in Ghana

ABSTRACT The sustainability of the cocoa industry in the developing world depends heavily on the preservation of the natural environment. There is, therefore, an urgent need for more research, policies and strategies that will help address and minimize the environmental impacts of cocoa production. This study was conducted using both secondary and primary data sources. The secondary data were collected from documentary sources such as reports from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Cocoa Pests and Diseases Control Programme (CODAPEC). On the other hand, the primary data involved an interview of 15 field officers of the Ghana Cocoa Board. These field officers were purposively selected to help ascertain some of the effects of cocoa production on the environment. The study showed that the environmental impact of cocoa production manifest in the clearance of virgin forests for the expansion of cocoa farms (clearance of 117,240 hectares of forest resources between 2010 and 2015), the clearance of forest for the construction of feeder roads (3000 kilometres of new feeder roads constructed to link cocoa farms to the various marketing outlets) and pollution from the use of pesticides and insecticides. In order to address this problem, there is the need for effective and efficient environmental impact assessment system for large scale agricultural production and the construction of feeder roads to farms. Adequate measures should be put in place by the relevant regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that the mitigation measures proposed in the environmental assessment process are implemented to minimize the environmental footprint of cocoa production.