{"id":115678,"date":"2026-02-16T21:12:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115678"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:12:58","slug":"ace-ankomah-writes-lets-coffee-our-cocoa-my-sunday-morning-musings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115678","title":{"rendered":"Ace Ankomah writes: Let\u2019s coffee our cocoa: My Sunday morning musings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 44 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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This morning, and probably against my better judgement, I decided to follow the debates surrounding the recent tanking of cocoa farm gate prices in Ghana. <\/p>\n

As expected it was again, almost all about the crippling, debilitating, partisan, binary, zero-sum-game: whodunnit and \u2018who-do-we-hail-or-threaten-to-jail-for-what-we-don\u2019t-even-know-yet\u2019. Damp squib! Do these people even talk to each other?<\/p>\n

*END OF STORY?*<\/p>\n

So I went to my two favourite AI tools to have separate debates with the machines. I played one\u2019s arguments again the other, in the hope that they aren\u2019t communicating with themselves behind my back.<\/p>\n

I put to them, my long-held theory: Ghana must absolutely learn from what I consider the Ethiopian arabica coffee model, by which their coffee commands high prices not only due to quality and specialty demand, but also to strong local consumption (there are 150 million Ethiopians and an estimated 90% of adults there regularly drink coffee), which strengthens its market position and pricing power.<\/p>\n

The machines and I have been arguing back and forth. Politely. They have even learned from me, and preface what they send to me with the very Ghanaian opening, \u2018please.\u2019 But we finally agreed on the following things that Ghana could do, learning from the Ethiopian experience:<\/p>\n

*Build a National Cocoa Culture*<\/p>\n

Ethiopia didn\u2019t just export coffee; it made coffee identity. Ghana must make chocolate and cocoa drinks everyday staples, not occasional treats. A product consumed at home gains resilience abroad.<\/p>\n

*Expand Local Processing and SMEs*<\/p>\n

Exporting raw beans exports jobs and margins. Grinding, manufacturing and branding at home multiply value. Ghana should deliberately move local value addition from near negligible levels toward 25\u201330% over time. That shift means jobs, skills and pricing power.<\/p>\n

*Target the Mass Market*<\/p>\n

Premium chocolate alone will not transform the sector. Scale comes from affordable products for ordinary households. Volume builds industries; elites do not.<\/p>\n

*Build a Serious \u201cMade-in-Ghana\u201d Brand*<\/p>\n

Ghanaian cocoa is respected globally. Ghanaian chocolate is not. That gap is strategic failure. Coming up with the brand name \u2018Golden Tree\u2019 was genius; but, I\u2019m sorry, the actual product isn\u2019t gold-standard. The goal must shift from \u201cwe grow cocoa\u201d to \u201cwe produce world-class chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Align Policy with Market Creation*<\/p>\n

Domestic demand does not emerge accidentally. It is engineered. Tax incentives, structured procurement for schools, public institutions, events, hotels, restaurants, plus consistent regulatory support could anchor a stable internal market. The days\u2019 old announcements of reform are welcome. But we have heard it all before. Implementation is what counts.<\/p>\n

*CONCLUDING THOUGHT*<\/p>\n

Success is not natural or organic; it is deliberate and intentional. If Ethiopia could turn culture into economic leverage, Ghana can do the same with cocoa. The alternative is to keep arguing about prices while exporting opportunity.<\/p>\n

But what do I know? I\u2019m just a busybody of a prematurely semi-retired lawyer who would rather argue with machines than with humans. So kindly reject this with all the contempt it deserves, also because I did this while drinking a cup of Ethiopian Arabic coffee that my friend Dr Takyi brought to me yesterday after his return from Ethiopia. Black. No sugar. No cream. Yup, I like my poisons pure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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