Cocoa Robbed Ghana of its Forests. Farmers Are Bringing Them Back

When Alex Tawiah and Georgina Nyarko first heard about beekeeping on their cocoa farm, they were skeptical. Could bees really help them earn a steady income?  

They put their misgivings aside and decided to work with Goshen Global Vision, a non-profit that helps small farmers build sustainable livelihoods. With training and a small investment, the couple installed eight beehives on their land. They also worked to plant and protect native trees. While many farmers clear natural vegetation to make space for more cocoa plants, Goshen explained that bees need trees for food and shelter, and the shade they provide can even help cocoa trees thrive.

A year later, the hives have brought so much more than honey to the small cocoa farm.

Alex and Georgina now earn extra money from harvesting and selling honey from their hives. Bees help pollinate  their cocoa trees, while on-farm trees add nutrients to the soil. The two combined have helped increase the couple’s cocoa yields, further boosting incomes.  

“I was weary of keeping bees in the farm due to the safety risks it posed to our children who accompany us,” said Nyarko. “But we were assured of protective clothing for safe apiculture. This was a good decision.” Today, Alex and Georgina’s land is part of a growing agroforestry movement across Ghana’s Cocoa Belt. By preserving and planting trees alongside cocoa, farmers are not only restoring degraded land; they’re creating more resilient farms and new income streams.

Ghana’s Cocoa Economy at a Crossroads

Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa exporter, bringing in over $2.2 billion a year. But much of that success has come at the expense of the country’s forests.

Between 2001 and 2017, illegal cocoa farming stripped away more than 13% of Ghana’s forest cover. Without trees to hold soil in place, wind and rain washed away nutrient-rich topsoil. Crop yields dropped, deepening poverty.

These compounding problems further strained forests and the farmers who relied on them.  “Most times [people] need money, they go to the forest and then they cut the native species and hunt for game,” said Mary Perpetua Kwakuyi, executive director of Goshen Global Vision. For example, farmers facing dwindling crop yields sometimes cut trees and sell the timber or charcoal to make ends meet. “Restoration without livelihood is just a conversation,” Kwakuyi said.

In other words: People don’t destroy forests because they want to; they do it because they have no alternative.

Restoring What Cocoa Took

Today, Tawiah’s family and many others are proving that a thriving cocoa industry doesn’t have to come at the expense of forests. Once considered an afterthought, agroforestry is now central to Goshen’s work in Ghana’s Western Region. The organization trains local farmers to grow trees, maintain hives and harvest honey. Their goal is to turn restored trees into income-generating assets.

“The bees give them a reason to leave the trees standing,” Kwayuki explained.

Goshen is one of many organizations working with WRI’s Restore Local initiative. Through its financing arm, TerraFund for AFR100, Restore Local has invested in 17 non-profits and six local enterprises working to restore land and improve livelihoods in the Ghana Cocoa Belt.  So far, the groups have grown over 3.3 million trees and created 5,900 jobs, with 4,426 hectares under restoration.  Collectively, they’re moving closer to achieving Ghana’s national goal of restoring 2 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100).

But beyond the numbers, restoration champions’ powerful stories paint a vibrant picture of what investing in local solutions means for the people and nature in this region.

A Network of Restoration Champions

For example, Private Afforestation Development Organization (PADO) works with farmers like Musah Bigiba to restore land around degraded forest reserves.

For years, Bigiba and his neighbors depended almost entirely on the Tinte Bepo Forest Reserve for survival. But the land was failing them. Degradation had stripped the reserve of its topsoil, making it almost impossible for any of Bigiba’s crops to flourish.

Five years ago, he joined a growing group of farmers restoring degraded reserves by planting teak, Ofram and Cedrela trees. These previously endangered native and commercial species are now coming back — a boon for the area’s farmers.

“I believe it is my responsibility to plant trees to protect the land,” Bigiba said. “With more trees, we have better rainfall, and this means better crop yield and more money.”

Other farmers find that agroforestry brings resilience.

Ghana’s climate is changing. Rainfall is more erratic, droughts are lengthening, and the heat is rising. For cocoa, a notoriously sensitive crop, this instability is a threat. Trees offer a kind of buffer.

At Fanteakwa Cocoa Cooperative Union, farmers are planting fruit trees like mango, coconut and orange alongside their cocoa trees to enrich the soil and create new income sources. By mixing crops instead of “monocropping,” farmers enrich the land while also protecting themselves from the ever-shifting cocoa market. When cocoa prices fluctuate, fruit and timber provide an alternative. Meanwhile, shade from the trees helps stabilize the microclimate for heat- and sun-sensitive cocoa trees.

Kwabena Napoleon, a cocoa farmer in the Western region, switched from monocropping to agroforestry. “The erosion was so bad, the soil would be washed away by the rain,” he said. “But now, the trees hold it. My cocoa yields are coming back.”

Cocoa and Forests Can Both Thrive in Ghana

As the landscape is restored, so is farmers’ sense of pride and possibility. People throughout Ghana are learning a powerful lesson: Cocoa and forests can thrive together — as well as the farmers who rely on them both.

To learn more about restoration champions in the Ghana Cocoa Belt and the impact of Restore Local across African landscapes, read our series here.