The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) is urging government to adopt deliberate policies under the 24-hour economy initiative to attract more young people into cocoa processing, warning that Ghana’s cocoa sector faces a generational crisis.
With an ageing farmer population and youth increasingly turning away from farming, the union fears the world’s second-largest cocoa producer risks losing its dominance.
GAWU, however, believes the solution lies in reorienting the sector towards processing. General Secretary Andrews Addoquaye argued that value addition presents the future.
“We must decide what percentage of cocoa we want to process locally and make it available to young people interested in processing. Train them. Be intentional about including them in the 24-hour economy,” he said.
He pointed to examples of young entrepreneurs already producing chocolate using up to 70 percent raw beans. “These are healthy, innovative products. We must identify and support such people.”
Analysts note that Ghana currently processes less than 40 percent of its cocoa locally, exporting the rest as raw beans. The call by GAWU aligns with long-standing concerns about the need to capture more value within Ghana’s borders rather than exporting unprocessed cocoa.
For now, the debate highlights a critical choice: whether Ghana will remain largely a raw material exporter or leverage its cocoa industry to build a new generation of processors and entrepreneurs.
