The World Bank has acknowledged the significant challenges confronting Ghana’s cocoa sector and has pledged to offer recommendations to help revitalize the industry.

On January 8, 2025, during a meeting with President John Dramani Mahama, Ousmane Diagana, Vice President for West and Central Africa at the World Bank, emphasized the untapped potential within Ghana’s agricultural sector, with a particular focus on cocoa.

“On cocoa, Ghana is one of those countries where we have prepared what we call country-climate under-development. And we have indeed identified the potential that exists in the agricultural sector. Particularly is cocoa and at the same time what are the challenges the sector has faced?

“We have Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire together, even though there are similarities. We have some recommendations that the team can discuss with you at some point. In that regard, and see how we can use our existing programme because we have some dedicated programmes that exist already in Ghana in order to contribute to addressing those challenges that have been mentioned.

Ghana’s cocoa sub-sector contracted by 26% in the third quarter of 2024, marking its fifth consecutive decline and highlighting ongoing struggles in one of the nation’s most vital export industries.

This significant drop contrasts sharply with the broader economy, which grew by 7.2% during the same period. Excluding oil, Ghana’s economy expanded in current terms to Gh?254 billion, compared to Gh?194 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

The cocoa sector’s challenges, which began in the third quarter of 2023, have worsened throughout 2024. The first quarter recorded the steepest contraction of 20.2%, followed by back-to-back 26% declines in the second and third quarters, signalling a deepening crisis.

This prolonged downturn threatens the stability of Ghana’s cocoa sector, a critical driver of rural livelihoods and a major source of foreign exchange earnings.