Responsible Agricultural Practices of a Cocoa Buying Company in Ghana

Agricultural value chain actors (AVCAs)—agribusinesses—are critical players in achieving the goals of the Committee on World Food Security’s Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI) and include producers of crops, processors, and traders. AVCAs’ investment in the agricultural and food sectors can play a transformative role, enabling the adoption and dissemination of new technologies, building markets and supply chain linkages, and contributing to local economies and communities. Investing responsibly can be enhanced by AVCAs aligning policies, planned operations, and practices with the CFS-RAI.

The current challenges confronting the industry and the AVCA include climate-related issues; farmers’ struggle to access working capital loans at affordable interest rates; older trees dying, often for unknown reasons, leading to many farmers leaving the sector; high competition with other traders, declining profitability; and high certification costs.

This case study shares extensive recommendations to the trader, its financial investors, the government, and other stakeholders based on the findings. The recommendations for each actor are linked closely to each dimension, and for most, the business environment in which the AVCA operates is critical.