Building resilience in the cocoa value chain of Ghana
Background
Food production, processing and consumption are interconnected all over the world, forming a highly complex system, the cocoa value chain being a perfect example. The system should provide sufficient supply to a growing global population, no matter how much the climate changes or how scarce resources become. It should also avoid causing environmental and social damage. Changes in the cocoa value chain are urgently required, in order to improve its outcomes for supply security and environmental and social welfare. However, cocoa value chain actors need to be able to estimate where and how to implement the necessary changes, without causing undesired effects elsewhere. They also need to know if such changes will allow the system to carry on functioning even if there are disturbances, such as natural disasters, market-related shocks or political crises. This requires the development of new tools, which can capture the complexity of the system and evaluate its resilience.
Objective
To co-develop with stakeholders concrete strategies and interventions to build and enhance the resilience of the cocoa value chain in Ghana.
Expected benefits
• In partner countries: The expected outcome of this project is an enhanced resilience of the cocoa value chain. Additionally, we expect that strategies and interventions that would increase the resilience of actors of the cocoa value chain would also contribute to improving livelihoods in Ghana.
• In Switzerland: This project would ensure a good quantity and quality of cocoa supply to Switzerland and therefore directly benefit the Swiss chocolate industry.
Contact Information
Johan Six, , phone: +41 44 632 84 83
Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich
