Ghana

Ghana is the world's second-largest cacao producer, supplying roughly a fifth of global output and, with neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire, anchoring the West African belt that yields most of the world's cocoa. Cultivation traces to introductions of the late nineteenth century — the smith Tetteh Quarshie is traditionally credited with establishing seedlings at Mampong-Akuapem in the 1870s — and from around 1900 until the 1970s Ghana was the world's leading producer. The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), founded in 1947, still regulates pricing, quality and export.

Production is concentrated in the forest belt of the Ashanti, Western, Western North, Eastern and Central regions, worked overwhelmingly by smallholders. The crop was historically dominated by a narrow Amelonado founder population (West African Forastero); modern replantings increasingly use Amelonado x Upper-Amazon hybrid seed selected by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, so cultivated stock now carries a hybrid component.

Ghanaian beans are valued for consistency rather than aromatic complexity, giving a straightforward, low-acid cocoa character underpinned by tightly supervised buying and grading. Most output is exported as bulk, though traceable cooperative and organic lots — such as the Suhum-area producers of the Eastern Region — supply a growing craft segment. Ageing trees, disease and farmer livelihoods remain central sector concerns.