The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) says buyers of the crop must be prepared to pay a premium for cocoa that is certified as having been grown using the best social, environmental and labour practices.

It said the production of certified cocoa must be demand-driven, and the market must be willing to pay more for farmers’ efforts in that regard.

“As a producer, we are very ready to meet the 2015 deadline for global cocoa certification; but we want this programme to be demand-led. We can’t supply when the demand is not there,” said Noah Amenyah, Public Relations Manager of Cocobod.

“Certification involves cost and strict monitoring. We will not subject our farmers to a situation where at the end of the day they don’t get the cocoa beans purchased, for which a return will come to them. Hence, our use of the demand-pull approach to quality.”

Cocoa certification demands that a farmer’s social, environmental and economic activities fall in line with best labour practices, in exchange for receiving a premium price on the produce. The standards also push farmers to develop better drying and fermentation practices.

“We are ready internally. We can take every action that comes in from the demand sources as long as the demand is there. But the industry does not even appear ready to demand that kind of cocoa and pay for it -- because you need to pay premium for the cocoa. The farmers are putting in more, developing the cocoa in a special way to meet your real desire,” said Mr. Amenyah.

He said the Board has created proper guidelines to educate farmers to be aware that European Union (EU) regulations and world standards are changing, and this requires certain changes in their practices.

A number of organisations, including Fairtrade and the German Development Cooperation (GTZ), are also working with Cocobod to effectively train farmers to meet the certification standards, he said.

Mr. Amenyah encouraged industry participants to partner Government which is providing the supportive environment, including enhancing marketing services to ensure that whenever farmers get their cocoa certified through the marketing chain, the products will be appropriately marketed to where the demand is.

The global cocoa industry has increasingly been demanding traceable cocoa that is certified as grown in a sustainable manner. The World Cocoa Foundation, which was formed in 2000, has been helping to improve cocoa sustainability in all three cocoa regions of the world. But because of the importance of West Africa, which produces around 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, a lot of programmes focus on that region.

The first one is the Cocoa Livelihoods Programme, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 16 of the company members as well as the German Development Agency.

The programme aims to reach over 200,000 cocoa farmers over the next few years, with the intent of doubling incomes.

Nigeria, Côte d’Ivorie, Ghana and Cameroon together produce 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, generating about US$13billion annually, while the end-product of cocoa, chocolate, has a turnover of US$105billion.