The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Randy Abbey, has stated that the new cocoa bill, to be laid before Parliament, will include a provision to ban the sale of cocoa farmlands for Galamsey activities.
A countrywide survey, according to the COCOBOD CEO, has revealed that “about 40% of the area under cocoa cultivation is unproductive, 23% is affected by Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD), and 17% are over-aged (moribund) trees.”
The situation, Dr. Abbey said, is complicated by the devastating impact of climate change and the activities of illegal small-scale mining (popularly known as Galamsey) in the cocoa landscape.
The Ban
Addressing attendees of the 2026 Ghana Cocoa Connect Conference 2026 organized by AfroEuro Foundation in The Hague, Netherlands, in a speech read on his behalf by Dr. James Kofi Kutsoati, the Deputy CEO of COCOBOD, Dr. Randy Abbey said Galamsey has “proven to be an existential threat to the long-term sustainability of Ghana’s cocoa sector.”
“Approval of a new Cocoa Bill to be passed into law. There are provisions in the New Cocoa Bill that deter cocoa smuggling and the destruction of cocoa farms caused by illegal small-scale miners, popularly known as Galamsey in Ghana,” the COCOBOD CEO remarked.
JS Cocoa on Stressed System
In his keynote address, Pieter Schulting, the CEO of JS COCOA, a Dutch cocoa processor with business interests in Ghana, noted that cocoa-growing countries need to see cocoa not as a commodity but as a system: “a system that is showing clear signs of stress not only economically, but socially and environmentally as well.”
Schulting further observed four basic symptoms of what he called the “stressed cocoa system. The symptoms he indicated are the fact that “young people are leaving cocoa farming, cocoa trees are becoming older, more diseased, and less productive, yields per hectare are declining, despite training programmes and agricultural inputs, and farmers’ confidence in the future of cocoa is eroding.
“These symptoms are often discussed separately. My argument today is that they are deeply connected and point to underlying structural issues we have not yet adequately addressed. If we want healthier farms, we must first enable healthier farm economics,” Schulting remarked.
Urgent steps
To this end, Schulting proposed six urgent steps that he believes cocoa-growing countries like Ghana must implement to turn the cocoa sector around. First was the fact that “land ownership and responsibility are inseparable.”
“This leads to one of the most sensitive, but essential topics: land ownership rights. In many cocoa regions, farmers work land they do not fully own or control. Long-term investments in land lack long-term security. Yet ownership and responsibility are inseparable.
“Without land security, farmers cannot plan long-term. Without control over land, farmers cannot act as entrepreneurs. Without clarity on tenure, sustainability remains theoretical.
“Here, national governments and local authorities have a critical role to play. Clear, fair, and enforceable land rights are not an agricultural detail; they are a structural economic foundation,” the CEO of JS Cocoa, Pieter Schulting, pointed out.
Value sharing
The second point he raised was about value creation without value sharing. He noted that the global cocoa chain generates significant value across chocolate, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, branding, and retail. Yet, only a limited share of that value reaches farmers at origin.
“As long as farmers produce at a cost below sustainable production, no certification, training, or efficiency program can solve the problem. This is not a moral argument. It is an economic reality. Here, industry actors, traders, processors, and brands carry responsibility.
If cocoa remains structurally underpriced at origin, the system will continue to erode from within. Value creation without value sharing is not sustainable, neither socially nor economically. How can farmers share in value creation?” Schulting quizzed.
Farmer development
The third issue he addressed was “farmer development and the role of industry.” He noted that independent institutions, development agencies, and long-term financial partners are essential because farmer development should not be led primarily by those who depend commercially on cheap cocoa. True development, he said, “requires distance from short-term commercial pressure.”
Galamsey
The fourth area of concern to Mr. Schulting was Illegal gold mining and competing land use. He noted that it is a structural issue that must be addressed openly.
“In many cocoa regions, cocoa land is being degraded or abandoned due to illegal mining activities. Soil is destroyed, water is polluted, and long-term agricultural productivity is lost. This is not a problem farmers can solve on their own.
“Here, national and local governments must act decisively. Enforcement, alternative livelihoods, and land restoration policies are not optional; they are necessary if cocoa is to remain a viable land use. If cocoa cannot compete with illegal mining in terms of income and security, it will lose,” Schulting said.
From farmer to entrepreneur
The fifth point was “from farmer to entrepreneur.” The JS Cocoa CEO observed that “if Ghana wants to secure the future of cocoa, farmers must be recognized not as raw material suppliers, but as entrepreneurs.”
“This is a shared responsibility, governments create the legal framework, industry must share value more equitably, financial institutions must design farmer-accessible capital, and Independent actors must safeguard long-term development goals,” Schulting said.
Invitation
Lastly, Schulting raised the issue of “from system challenge to practical action,” noting that his message “is not an accusation, but an invitation, an invitation to stop treating cocoa’s challenges as isolated problems, and to start addressing cocoa as a system that needs redesign.
“At JS COCOA, we are working from the belief that part of the solution lies in how value is created, not only in how cocoa is grown. Our model focuses on processing underutilized cocoa side streams into high-quality cocoa butter with consistent specifications,” Schulting said.
“That may sound technical, but the implication is structural. Because when more value can be extracted from the same biological system, the question becomes: who benefits from that value? Schulting further quizzed.
