[{"bbox": [171, 152, 1135, 233], "category": "Text", "text": "prevalence rates exceeding 30 percent (33 percent and 31 percent, respectively⁹). The EU will invest EUR 10 million as soon as 2022 under the “Food Production and Resilience of Food Systems in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries” to help combat food insecurity."}, {"bbox": [134, 233, 1135, 498], "category": "List-item", "text": "- **Shortage of fertilisers and price hike are looming in Ghana as a consequence of the Russian aggression of Ukraine.** In West Africa, no country produces chemical fertilisers¹⁰. Farmers are dependent upon global imports. Yet the cost of these inputs has risen considerably on the global market between June 2020 and March 2022, for example recording a +80% for phosphorus fertiliser and up to +100% for potash. Tensions on the market come from disrupted exports from Ukraine and more seriously from Russia, which is one of the top supplier of both inputs and raw materials such as sulphur or ammonia¹¹. Small farmers in Ghana won't be able anymore to afford them at such high prices. And GoG does not have sufficient budgetary capacities to increase subsidies. The consequences on Ghanaian farmers' capacities to access inorganic fertilisers are therefore likely to be significant in the months and year to come¹². This situation, that may last, offers opportunity for local solutions."}, {"bbox": [134, 498, 1135, 631], "category": "List-item", "text": "- **The current model for farming crops such as maize, cassava, rice, some vegetables, and even for some legumes as soybean and groundnut,** is based on mono-cropping models and the use of chemical fertiliser. Prices are subsidized by the Ghanaian state but have been rising nevertheless in the past years. It is critical to reduce drastically the dependency of Ghanaian farmers on chemical fertilisers. Many alternatives to chemical fertilisers exist, especially in the framework of agroecology principles."}, {"bbox": [134, 630, 1135, 789], "category": "List-item", "text": "- **The Creation of the Tree Crop Development Authority:** in order to develop tree crops and reduce dependency on cocoa, the government has created the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA) with the mandate to give research support, production and value chain development support, capacity building and more importantly licensing and regulation of the sector. TCDA was established in 2019 and as a nascent institution lacks the capacity to undertake its mandate. Capacity Building of TCDA is critical for the diversification of the export sector in Ghana."}, {"bbox": [134, 789, 1135, 892], "category": "List-item", "text": "- **Gender inequality remains widespread across the country.** According to OXFAM, women are more likely to be poorer and to have fewer assets. For instance, they are half as likely as men to own land. They are also significantly less likely than men to be wealthy – only 6% of the richest people in Ghana are women."}, {"bbox": [97, 922, 297, 948], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Cocoa sustainability"}, {"bbox": [97, 948, 1135, 1081], "category": "Text", "text": "Income distribution in the cocoa value chain is notoriously unequal at the expense of the farmers. A study conducted in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire, which has similar production systems to Ghana, compared production systems with the more diverse systems existing in Peru, confirmed this and suggested that agroforestry could improve yields and cocoa farmers' income simultaneously¹³. In addition, diversified agro-ecosystems and farms are more resilient to climate change and other stresses."}, {"bbox": [97, 1107, 1135, 1426], "category": "Text", "text": "There are a variety of initiatives to combat child labour, from public, private and multilateral institutions and NGOs. At central level, the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System developed by the Ministry of Employment Labour and Labour Relations (MELR) is based on monitoring officers at the district level, with the involvement of the population organized in committees to provide child protection surveillance. However, beyond data collection, coordination is needed. All types of institutions and companies have set up their own child labour monitoring systems, but those are not coordinated as of today. A stakeholder's platform on child labour exists, but it is not institutionalized yet. UNICEF has underlined the limits of a due diligence and compliance approach to child labour: as companies usually focus on eliminating “the worst forms of child labour” in the cocoa sector only, there is a serious risk that children at risk will be displaced to other sectors such as illegal mining and fishing sector, or even be abused. Overall, a landscape systemic approach to child labour (like the Child Labour Free Zones that are in preparation) and defence of the rights of children seem more appropriate solutions than a purely sectoral approach."}, {"bbox": [85, 1457, 1137, 1515], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹ Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) GHANA (2020): https://www.statsghana.gov.gh/gssmain/fileUpload/pressrelease/Comprehensive%20Food%20Security%20and%20Vulnerability%20Analysis%20(CFSVA).pdf"}, {"bbox": [85, 1515, 383, 1535], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ Except Nigeria, which exports it to Brazil."}, {"bbox": [85, 1536, 1143, 1578], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ Norwegian fertiliser manufacturer Yara recently announced that it has temporarily reduced its production in Italy and in France. This is a direct consequence of the exponential rise of gas prices, the main raw material for nitrogen fertilisers."}, {"bbox": [85, 1578, 1141, 1599], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² https://www.wsj.com/articles/fertilizer-prices-surge-as-ukraine-war-cuts-supply-leaving-farmers-shocked-11648114381?mod=Searchresults_pos10&page=1"}, {"bbox": [85, 1599, 613, 1620], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ The Dark Side of Chocolate, Basic for the French Fair Trade Platform, 2016."}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 8 of 26"}]