Cocoa Production in Ghana: A Mechanism for Biodiversity Conservation

According to Kolavalli and Vigneri (2010), "Cocoa trees grown under the sun tend to cause higher damage to cocoa trees caused by cocoa trees in the shadow system." Therefore, the best environmental alternatives for current cocoa cultivation in Ghana are "forest" that removes vegetation vegetation under the forest, thinning the canopy and growing economically valuable fruit trees alongside cocoa It is a mixed agroforestry system. Cocoa trees were sold in the form of rent and food, and by income from farmers.

Cocoa is the biggest cash crop in Ghana since the 19th century. However, the first company that provided cocoa products to local citizens in 1965 entered Ghana in 1910 and Nestlé began in Ghana in 1957. This period shows that even if Ghana has long-term plant cocoa, it can only be produced in 1965. Because they are classified as Least Developed Countries (LDC). Their products are chocolate drinks and golden tree chocolate bars.

As it is said that "Ghana is Cocoa, Cocoa is Ghana", this proverb shows the importance of cocoa production to the Ghana economy. Recently, the sustainability of the country's highest export earnings is a serious threat due to many factors. Most importantly, the current illegal mining is also known as Galamsey, after which the old outbreak of cocoa's early treatment will continue. Regarding Galamsey, domestic cocoa processors through security authorities have taken some measures to prevent this bad habit of cultivating cocoa, but they are useless. Unfortunately, the Galamsey campaign continues to prosper while catastrophic affecting the growing community of cacao, endangering the livelihoods of cacao producers. This adversely affected the country's cocoa production and the economy as a whole.

Approximately 60% of the world's cocoa beans are produced by two West African countries, small farmers in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. They supply cocoa beans to 20% of the global $ 9 billion cocoa market. Cocoa is the "backbone" of the Ghanaian economy as a person who raises crops. However, in addition to providing employment opportunities to nearly one million farmers and rescuing many people from poverty, this crop also supports the majority of the deforestation the country has suffered over the past few decades I will. Due to the decrease in the main forest area, people are interested in managing trees on the cacao farm. Shaded trees are an important part of Ghana's cocoa ecosystem and play an important role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological processes, including drought relief, such as drought, associated with El Nino in 2015 - 2016 I will.