Jake Kudjo Samahar, Director of Special Services at COCOBOD, has disclosed that Ghana forfeited 7,128.13 tonnes of cocoa to illicit cross-border trade between the 2020 and 2025 crop seasons in the Volta and Oti enclaves. He indicated that cocoa output in these jurisdictions has plummeted sharplyover the five-year period.
According to him, production figures have witnessed a steady and alarming decline:
“In the 2020/21 season, the regions recorded 7,215.19 tonnes. This fell to 5,656.25 tonnes in 2021/22, dropped drastically to 874.31 tonnes in 2022/23, decreased further to 468.75 tonnes for 2023/24, and reached a mere 87.06 tonnes in 2024/25,” he recounted.
Mr. Samahar further revealed that Ghana has forfeited approximately US$1.1 billion in revenue from 2022 to 2025 due to the persistent trafficking of cocoa into neighbouring Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.
“We are hemorrhaging enormous income. In just three years—2022 to 2025—Ghana has lost close to $1.1 billion through the illegal diversion of cocoa into Togo and Côte d’Ivoire,” he emphasised.
His remarks were made during a field engagement by members of the COCOBOD Board to the Oti and Volta regions, where they conferred with various actors within the cocoa value chain.
Security operatives stationed in both regions have been cited as major contributors to the expanding smuggling network—an issue COCOBOD warns is aggravating financial losses and undermining border controls.
Mr. Samahar explained that the illicit trade involves two distinct modes—internal diversion within border settlements and cross-country transit operations into neighbouring states, frequently supported by compromised security checkpoints.
He clarified:
“The peculiarity of the cocoa trafficking challenge in the Volta and Oti areas is that it manifests in two forms. First, there is the local smuggling, where cocoa beans are shifted from farms within the Volta and Oti regions directly into Togo. Then there is the transit smuggling, whereby cocoa from other regions travels through the eastern corridor and is ultimately transported into Togo.”
“This clearly suggests that security personnel are not properly supervising their checkpoints—and some have significantly compromised their integrity,” he added.
Source: Isaac Appiah-Kubi
