Climate Change is Breaking Cocoa Farmers, Not Just Cocoa- Study Warns
A study by researchers from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Harvard University and international partners found that climate change is already eroding the health, wellbeing and labour capacity of cocoa farmers across Ghana’s cocoa belt.
For years, the debate around climate change and Ghana’s cocoa sector has focused on falling yields, drought, pests and whether cocoa-growing areas will remain suitable.
The new research suggests the more urgent danger could be the farmers themselves.
The findings were presented at a Research and Policy Breakfast in Accra under the project Towards a Cocoa Producer-Focused Climate Policy in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, supported by the Harvard University Centre for African Studies through the Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa.
Based on 220 household surveys, 95 in-depth interviews, nine focus group discussions and participatory work in 10 cocoa communities, the study shows farmers are deeply worried about a changing climate.
Nearly 98% reported rising temperatures. 97% said drought conditions are getting worse. More than 91% said rainfall patterns have become unpredictable. And over 92% linked those changes to declining cocoa yields.
But the researchers said the most striking finding was about people, not pods, as farmers are reporting heat exhaustion, fatigue, dehydration, stress and anxiety. More than three-quarters said they are working fewer hours because of extreme heat. Over 70% reported increasing physical exhaustion on the farm.
“The evidence suggests that climate change is reducing not only cocoa productivity but also labour productivity,” said Dr Albert Arhin, lead researcher for the Ghana component. “The real threat is not only fewer cocoa pods. The real threat is fewer people willing and physically able to continue producing cocoa.”
The study warns this could trigger a cocoa labour crisis before climate change makes cocoa cultivation itself unviable.
Rising physical strain, higher production costs, labour shortages and uncertainty about future yields are already pushing farmers out. Nearly half of those surveyed said they had considered leaving cocoa farming due to climatic and economic pressures.
Awareness is not the problem. Farmers described using shade management, water conservation and adjusting planting calendars. The barrier, researchers found, is money. Many lack the financial resources to implement adaptation measures at scale.
The research also questions reliance on price incentives alone. While farmers welcomed the Living Income Differential, many said higher prices cannot make up for climate-driven losses.
“The LID helps only when there is cocoa to sell,” one farmer told researchers.
Because of this, the team is calling for a shift to what they term a Cocoa Producer-Focused Climate Policy. Instead of focusing only on productivity, prices and environmental compliance, the policy would put farmer health, wellbeing, labour productivity and resilience at the centre of adaptation.
At the event, the researchers launched an Eight-Point Agenda. It proposes more adaptation finance, climate-smart water management, support for occupational health, climate-resilient infrastructure, stronger farmer participation in decisions, and better support systems for cocoa communities.
The implications go beyond the farm. Cocoa remains one of Ghana’s top export earners and a major source of jobs and rural livelihoods. A decline in the resilience and productivity of cocoa farmers, the researchers said, poses broader risks to national economic development.
Source: KNUST
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