Incentives for sustainable cocoa production in Ghana : moving from maximizing outputs to optimizing performance

Ghana is in a good position to profile itself as world leading in sustainable, high quality cocoa, therewith producing cocoa for the top of the market today, in anticipation of the fast growing demand for such cocoa tomorrow. Ghana is well placed to respond to the increased demand for sustainable, certified cocoa, and in doing so could also expand trade with and through The Netherlands. The increased demand for sustainable, certified cocoa creates a competitive supply chain model all the way down to the farmer level, while at the same time there is increasing attention for solutions in the pre-competitive domain. This requires a balancing act between competition and pre-competitive cooperation. For that reason, it becomes relevant to analyze the cocoa sector through the incentives (and disincentives) for its sustainability. This study has been conducted and funded under the Multi-Annual Strategic Plan 2012-2015 of the Netherlands Embassy to Ghana, and carried out to provide an overview of the incentives system in the cocoa chain in Ghana and The Netherlands in view of mainstreaming sustainable cocoa production. The study is expected to provide food for thought and input for strategic decision-making.