Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation Level 2

Who it is for. People who have finished Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation and Good Practices (Level 1), or who can show the same skills: farm workers, young farmers, family members who help on a cocoa farm, and people who want to work for or with cocoa farmers. National Proficiency II covers varied work, mostly routine, under limited supervision.

Bridge from Level 1: what you already know

Level 1 left some jobs for later. Level 2 covers them: pruning systems and shade management as a yearly programme, a soil and nutrition plan, a full integrated pest plan with a spray calendar, the cut test and grading, a block-by-block rehabilitation plan with costs, traceability and certification, climate-smart and mixed farming, and the business side.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace. Every unit ends with Check yourself (three quick questions) and a homework task. Units 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 have a worked sums exercise.

Competency standard

Range. Young and mature cocoa on a family farm or training plot. Evidence. Pruning observation; shade sketch; fertiliser calculation; farm map and pod-count sheet.

1.1 Pruning systems

Pruning shapes the tree, makes work easier, removes sources of disease, opens the canopy and lowers spraying costs. There are three kinds, and you do all three at different times.

Formation: the rules. The first fork (jorquette) forms at about 1.5 m after about 2 years. If it forms under 1 m, the tree grows into a bush, so keep the first branching at 1.5 m or higher by cutting low branches. If more than two shoots grow from the fork, leave two that face each other and remove the ones in the middle.

Structural pruning: three steps. Control the height, clear the branches near the ground, and thin the middle of the crown. Cut slanting so water runs off.

Hot, dry areas. Prune more lightly where it is hot and dry, so that bare branches do not get sun scald.

Mistletoe and sanitary cuts. Cut off a branch with mistletoe as soon as you see it, before the plant flowers. The best months to see mistletoe flowers are September to March. Children must never climb ladders to remove mistletoe.

1.2 Shade management

Shade protects the tree from heat and drying, and also from some pests, but too much shade helps black pod. The shade level you want changes as the tree grows.

Note on figures. The sources disagree on how many permanent shade trees to keep per hectare: 15 to 18 per hectare at clearing in the COCOBOD manual; about 69 timber trees per hectare at first, thinned to about 18 later in the IITA manual; and 15 to 25 or more per hectare, by climate zone, in the climate-smart manual. So the target is a shade percentage, not a fixed number of trees. On most farms it ends at roughly 15 to 20 well-chosen big trees per hectare. Ask your extension officer.

Check shade by eye (a simple test). Stand under the cocoa at midday. If you see the sky through the crowns as small, scattered patches and the ground is dappled, shade is about right for mature cocoa. If the ground is almost all dark, there is too much shade. If you see sun everywhere, there is too little. (This is a rule of thumb for teaching; the sources give percentages but no field test.)

Trees to ask about. COCOBOD lists Terminalia ivorensis (emire) and Albizia coriaria as desirable shade trees. Silk cotton (Ceiba pentandra, onyina), Sterculia, baobab and some Cola trees can carry the swollen shoot virus, so fell them when clearing and keep nurseries away from them. The IITA manual treats some trees, such as Terminalia superba, Khaya and Milicia, as good timber shade, while the COCOBOD list calls some of them undesirable, so which is right for the Western Region was not verified: ask your extension officer before you keep or fell any tree.

Pruning the shade trees. Prune them first 2 to 5 years after planting, then every 5 to 7 years, from the end of the dry season to the early rains. Never take more than a quarter of the crown, and cut just outside the branch collar.

Slowly killing an unwanted shade tree. The IITA manual shows a method (ring the bark and treat it) for use at the end of the dry season with gloves. Do this only for a tree your extension officer agrees may be removed.

1.3 Soil and nutrition programme

Cocoa takes nutrients from the soil every year, and after about ten years of bearing, yields fall mostly because soil fertility drops. Fertiliser helps only if you also use good planting material, control weeds, black pod and capsids, remove swollen-shoot trees, chupons and mistletoe, and keep the shade right. Using fertiliser for three to four years can double yield, but the first two years often show little change.

The yearly nutrition programme, in order:

1. Look at the soil. Dark soil with earthworms is a good sign. Grey, green or blue spots show waterlogging.
2. Plan one application a year, at the start of the main rains (April or May), on moist soil.
3. Young trees (6 to 18 months): the manuals give about 70 g, a matchbox full, of sulphate of ammonia per tree on the soil surface in a band, kept off the stem, at the start of the rains.
4. Bearing trees: the COCOBOD manual lists approved granular fertilisers at 3 bags of 50 kg per acre, and organic products at 8 bags per acre, once a year. That list is old and "subject to change", so check the current COCOBOD list and rate with your extension officer. In 2026 the Government budgeted for free fertiliser distribution, with distribution from May 2026 through district points.
5. Add organic matter: compost, poultry manure and pod-husk ash.
6. Buy only approved fertiliser from COCOBOD channels or approved dealers. Cheap non-approved fertilisers are the most likely source of cadmium in the soil and beans.
7. Keep it safe: fertiliser can burn leaves if it touches them; store it dry and locked; children must not apply it; apply when the soil is moist.

Compost, step by step. Pile cocoa pod husks, bean shells, grass, leaves and manure with some ash. Keep it moist, not wet. Turn it when it gets too hot. Finished compost is brown-black and smells earthy. Immature compost can harm young plants. For compost tea, fill a bucket one third with good compost, top up with water, stir now and then for 3 to 4 days, strain, dilute 1 part tea to 10 parts water, and pour it round the base of the plant at once.

1.4 Map the farm and keep records

A farm map shows where each block is, how big it is, what is planted and where problems are. It is the base of every plan in this book, and farm maps are also needed for traceability (see Unit 5).

A healthy tree gives at least 25 pods a year, which is about 1 kg of dry beans, and a healthy pod has at least 30 good seeds. Fresh beans lose about two thirds of their weight when dried, so 3 kg fresh makes about 1 kg dry.

Records that help you. Keep a notebook with a page for each block: work done and date, labour used, inputs bought, harvest weights, sales receipts. Records help planning, budgeting, credit and certification. Net farm income is revenue minus expenses; yield per hectare is weight harvested divided by area.

Check yourself

1. Which kind of pruning removes chupons at every weeding, and which is done once a year before the rains?
2. What shade level does a 2-year-old cocoa need, and what does a mature tree need?
3. A tree has 14 pods a year. Is that good, average or poor?

Competency standard

Range. A cocoa block with signs of black pod or capsids; a clean knapsack sprayer; water only in class. Evidence. Scouting sheet; calendar; calibration sheet; PPE and label check; oral questions.

2.1 Integrated pest management: Observe, Learn, Decide, Act

IPM means keeping pests and diseases below harmful levels by the cheapest and safest methods first. COCOBOD teaches four steps: Observe your farm, Learn what you see, Decide what to do, Act. The 15 principles include healthy planting material, a fertile site, the right spacing, regular weeding and field visits, sanitation, natural enemies, using as little pesticide as possible, careful harvest and clean storage.

The climate-smart manual sets goals of 20% less pesticide at the bronze and silver levels and 30% less at gold (in one climate zone), by prevention, correct dose, monitoring thresholds, targeted spraying and calibration.

2.2 The main problems, and what to do

Black pod is caused by Phytophthora fungi; the more severe type can wipe out a season's crop. A small brown spot grows to cover the pod in 7 to 14 days, and white spores follow. It spreads by rain splash, soil splash, ants, insects, rodents and dirty hands and tools.

Cultural control first: reduce shade (to the levels in Unit 1), weed two to four times a year, prune and remove chupons, space trees at 3 m by 3 m, remove infected and mummified pods, harvest often, and remove or spray husk heaps.

Capsids (mirids, akate) suck from shoots, cherelles and young pods and leave water-soaked patches that turn black after two to three days, then cankers and dieback. They are present all year, mainly August to April. Monitor monthly, to hand height. The COCOBOD manual says to consider spraying when the average reaches 6 mirids per 10 trees. Prevention: remove chupons, remove young silk cotton and cola near the farm, keep a pruned continuous canopy, and fill gaps or plant plantain.

Cocoa swollen shoot (CSSVD). Signs in order: red vein banding in young leaves; mosaic, fern-like patterns and yellowing in older leaves; swellings on stems, chupons and roots; dieback and death. Mealybugs spread it. There is no chemical cure; the only answer is to cut out infected trees and replant. It is found in all cocoa regions, with high levels in the Eastern and Western regions.

The COCOBOD manual explains how wide to cut once swollen shoot is confirmed: if up to 10 trees show signs, trees within 5 m of an infected tree are cut; for 11 to 100 infected trees, within 10 m; for more than 100, within 15 m. A barrier of immune crops such as citrus or oil palm around a replanted field helps to keep mealybugs out. The officer applies these rules; you need to understand them so that you can plan blocks (Unit 4).

Mistletoe infests shade trees first, then cocoa. Birds spread its sticky seeds. It flowers twice a year (March to April, and July to August). Cut the infected branch as soon as you see it, before flowering and fruiting. Children must not do this work from ladders.

Other problems to know the names of: stink bugs, stem borers, termites, defoliators, rodents, stem canker, pink disease, thread blight, and storage pests. Ask your extension officer for control methods in your area.

2.3 Safe handling of pesticides

Before you buy

1. Check that the product is registered by the EPA and on the current COCOBOD list for cocoa. EPA registration and the COCOBOD cocoa list are two separate lists, so an EPA-registered product can still be not approved for cocoa.
2. Buy from a licensed dealer. A report in 2018 found that about 80% of input shops sampled in cocoa communities did not have COCOBOD-approved pesticides, and some sold unregistered or fake products.
3. Do not use herbicides of the 2,4-D type on or near cocoa. COCOBOD has warned that unapproved agrochemicals contaminate beans.
4. Keep your receipt. Inspectors and certification schemes may ask for proof.

Reading the label. The label gives the trade and approved name, the active ingredient, the hazard class, the crop it is for, the dose, the timing, and the first-aid advice. Use it only for the crop it names. Chemicals in WHO classes Ia and Ib are too hazardous for cocoa.

PPE. Gloves, hat, overalls with long sleeves and trousers, boots, goggles, respirator or mask, and a face shield. The employer must provide and pay for PPE for hazardous work.

What the body takes in. Pesticides can enter through the skin (especially sweaty skin or wounds), the lungs (dust, vapour and mist) and the mouth.

2.4 The spray calendar (no doses)

A calendar tells you when to think about spraying. The label tells you how much. The rules differ between sources, so read this table with the flag below it.

CODAPEC, the free spraying programme. It began in the 2001/2002 season and is free to farmers. Teams of seven with a supervisor spray mapped, productive farms in good condition, with mist blowers for capsids and pneumatic sprayers for black pod. In 2026 the first six-week round began in April, the monthly allowance for spray team members was raised from GH¢500 to GH¢700, and COCOBOD bought 89,721 sets of PPE for teams. Whether your own farm is covered, and how a farm becomes "mapped", was not verified: ask your CHED officer. You are still encouraged to add your own fungicide rounds where needed.

2.5 Calibrate your sprayer (with water only)

Calibration means finding out how much liquid your sprayer uses on a set area, so you know how many tanks a block needs. The label dose is written per tank or per hectare; you must know the tank count to follow it. The climate-smart manual lists calibration as a way to cut waste.

Check yourself

1. Name the four IPM steps.
2. Who should cut out a tree with swollen shoot, and what should you do first?
3. Give three things you must never do when mixing or spraying pesticide.

Competency standard

Range. Fresh beans from one harvest; one fermentation method; simple drying on a raised surface. Evidence. Fermentation and drying log; cut-test sheet; storage checklist; oral questions.

3.1 Harvest and pod breaking: the quality start

Harvest ripe (yellow) pods every 2 to 4 weeks. The COCOBOD manual says every 3 to 4 weeks; the climate-smart manual says every 2 to 3 weeks; never leave ripe or diseased pods more than a month. Cut the stalk close to the pod without harming the flower cushion. Do not harvest unripe pods, because their beans are purple and bitter, and do not leave ripe pods too long, because the beans germinate.

Break pods within 2 to 3 days of harvest, with a wooden club, not a cutlass, because a cutlass chips beans and lets mould in. Scoop out the beans by hand and throw away husk, placenta, black, germinated and foreign matter. Start fermenting the same day.

3.2 Fermentation: the methods

Fermentation lets the sweet pulp turn to alcohol and then acetic acid; the acid enters the bean and starts the chocolate flavour. Here are four methods.

The climate-smart manual says 6 to 7 days, turned twice, for heaps, and suggests wooden boxes in the rainy season. The manual gives no day count for baskets and boxes, so ask your extension officer.

Under-fermented beans are slaty or violet; over-fermented beans are brown and off-flavoured; harmattan cold nights hurt fermentation. One Ghana heap study found that 26% of farmers fermented only five days and had poor quality; seven days with sun drying gave good beans. A study in Juaboso found 5 to 8 days fermentation and 4 to 6 days of drying produced good beans, and 8 days of fermentation with 6 days of drying brought the moisture to 5.6%, below the 7.5% standard.

3.3 Drying

Drying takes the moisture from about 55% to 7.5% or lower. At 8% or more, the moulds that make ochratoxin A can grow.

Solar dryers. A simple dryer made of wood and clear plastic can speed drying, but the beans must not get hotter than 65 °C. Dry too fast and the beans are acid and bitter; too slowly and they grow mould. In a university study, heap-fermented beans dried from 51% to 6.0% moisture in 3 days in a solar dryer, against 7.0% in 6 days in the open sun.

From wet to dry. About 3 kg of fresh beans make 1 kg of dry. So a 300 kg heap becomes about 100 kg of dry beans.

3.4 Quality and the cut test

COCOBOD wants beans that are well fermented and thoroughly dry, with no smoky or strange smell, no added matter, few insects, even size, and free of broken beans, shell and foreign matter. Causes of the main defects:

Putting stones or metal in a bag is cheating.

The cut test. The Quality Control Company (QCC) cuts 300 beans lengthwise and counts defects as a percentage. The limits in the COCOBOD manual are:

Worse than Grade 2 is substandard and cannot be marketed. Out of 300 beans, 3% is 9 beans, 4% is 12, 6% is 18 and 8% is 24 (calculated).

Bean count. Beans per 100 g also matter: up to 90 is a super main crop, 91 to 100 main crop, 101 to 105 super light crop, 106 to 110 light crop, 111 to 120 small, and over 120 smaller grades. The table in our source was scrambled, so check the exact mapping with QCC.

3.5 Storage and selling

Storage. Store only well-dried beans (7.5% or less), in a dry, ventilated, rainproof room. Stack bags on pallets or raised boards, not on the floor or against walls. Use food-grade jute bags supplied through the licensed buying companies. Keep away from smoke, fuel and fires, and never store other goods with the cocoa. First in, first out. Do not store for months, because insects and acidity rise. Do not fumigate yourself; QCC does storage treatment.

Selling. Cocoa is sold to a licensed buying company (LBC) through its purchasing clerks. A full bag is 64 kg at the Take Over Centre. The scale must be one certified by the Ghana Standards Authority and tampering is illegal; reports of tampering are mostly from 2014 to 2020, and whether it continues in 2026 was not verified. Selling outside the licensed channels is unlawful.

Check yourself

1. Why must pods be broken with a wooden club and not a cutlass?
2. How many days does a heap usually ferment, and when is it turned?
3. In a 300-bean cut test, how many mouldy beans are allowed for Grade 1?

Competency standard

Range. One hectare, or part of one, with old or weak cocoa. Evidence. Decision sheet; block plan; cost table; calendar; one-page plan.

4.1 Choose the option

The IITA manual sets out five choices. Match one to your farm.

Decision questions (IITA): Are my trees still productive? Is swollen shoot on my farm? Can I live three years without cocoa income? Do I have the labour? Do I have access to land?.

The COCOBOD programme. For swollen-shoot farms, a COCOBOD programme launched in September 2020 fells infected farms, replants them and manages them for two years before returning them to the farmers. A COCOBOD survey found 315,800 ha affected out of 1.9 million ha surveyed, with 214,500 ha in the Western North Region. A later report said about 40,000 ha had been rehabilitated and handed to farmers in 2024, but 27,000 ha were left unfinished for lack of finance, and that COCOBOD would resume the work. Compensation figures from 2019 exist (a treatment grant of GH¢1,000 per hectare), but no 2025 or 2026 rate, application steps or phone numbers were found; do not quote the old rate as current. Ask your CHED district officer.

4.2 Divide the farm into blocks

Gradual replanting by block spreads cost and keeps some income. Use blocks of about 0.25 ha so a one-hectare farm has four blocks. At 3 m by 3 m, a hectare holds 1,111 trees, so a 0.25 ha block holds about 277. Do not use the word "triangular" for these figures; they are square spacing. The IITA manual's "triangular" figures of 69 and 277 per hectare are actually square-spacing numbers (checked by calculation: 10,000 ÷ 144 = 69 and 10,000 ÷ 36 = 277).

Order of blocks. Start with the block that is least productive and has no swollen shoot, or the one nearest the farmhouse for easier care. If swollen shoot is confirmed, do not replant in a way that leaves infected trees next to new ones; take the CHED officer's cut-out plan first.

(Gradual replanting by block: four blocks in four years. Source: IITA-PRD.)

4.3 Cost the plan: an example for one block

All prices in this section are examples to show how a table is built. Replace them with quotes you collect yourself from sellers in your area. The COCOBOD manual has a cost table, but it is old and "purely illustrative", so its prices are not used.

Block A (0.25 ha, 277 trees), Year 1, inputs

Hybrid cocoa seedlings are not in the table because COCOBOD raises them free of charge at its nurseries and gives them out mostly from May to July. Add your own transport. The 20 kg of fertiliser is just enough for 277 trees at 70 g each, which is 19.4 kg (see Unit 1).

Block A, Year 1, labour (man-days)

Why avoid burning: burning wastes humus, exposes the soil to erosion and brings in weeds such as Imperata and Chromolaena.

The national daily minimum wage in 2026 is GH¢21.77. That is a floor, not the going farm rate; the going rate in the Western Region was not found, so ask. Two labour costs are compared below.

At the example total of GH¢3,301.00, one tree costs about GH¢11.92 (3,301 ÷ 277). Doing all four blocks at the same cost would be about GH¢13,204 over four years (4 × 3,301), before price rises.

Years 2 and 3 are cheaper. In the example, a block needs about 13 man-days a year (9 for weeding, 2 for pruning, 2 for fertiliser and checks), which is GH¢780 at GH¢60 a day.

The income gap. Suppose the old block gave 100 kg of dry beans a year (an example, a quarter of 400 kg per hectare). While it is cleared and the young trees are growing, that income is lost. At the 2026/27 producer price of GH¢2,650 per 64 kg bag (GH¢41.41 per kg), 100 kg is worth about GH¢4,140.63 a year. The new hybrid trees start bearing about two years after transplanting. Plantain and other food crops under the young cocoa give food and income in the meantime. Surveys show that actual average yields are low, about 328 kg per hectare in a 2024 study, so check your own figures.

4.4 Timeline: one block, one year

Nursery work for seedlings that will be planted in May to July starts in November to December. If you take free COCOBOD seedlings, you collect them in May to July. Plant temporary shade (plantain) and permanent shade a year before the cocoa. If time is short, plant food crops about three months before the cocoa, with the first rains in early March, and plant cocoa in June.

Dead seedlings should be replaced in the first two years. After year 3 do not fill gaps with seedlings, because they will be shaded out.

Check yourself

1. How many trees fit on 0.25 ha at 3 m by 3 m?
2. Which crop goes in a year ahead of cocoa to give shade and income?
3. Why do hybrid cocoa seedlings not appear in the cost table?

Competency standard

Range. Awareness level; no certification audit. Evidence. Oral questions; records folder; group sums.

5.1 Traceability in Ghana

COCOBOD runs a traceability system with barcodes on bags that are scanned at community, district and port levels. COCOBOD said at the 2026/27 price announcement that it is fully deployed across the cocoa-growing areas. The Cocoa Management System (launched 2019) records farmer details and farm measurements and issues cocoa identity cards. Whether you must show the card to sell today was not verified: ask your LBC or CHED officer.

Every bag graded by QCC is embossed with its grade, the LBC code, the region, the society code, a lot number and a seal number, and is checked at three points: the up-country depot, the Take Over Centre and shipment.

What you do: keep your map, your card, your sales receipts and your spray log; do not mix cocoa from other farms into yours; do not add stones, metal or anything else.

5.2 The EU deforestation regulation (EUDR), in plain words

The European Union has a rule that cocoa sold in the EU must not come from land cleared of forest after 31 December 2020, and the plot must be known on a map. Cocoa is covered. The start date was postponed to 30 December 2026 for medium and large companies, and 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones. Only the first company that places the product on the EU market submits the declaration, and small companies use a simplified form. The outcome of a review of the rule that was due by 30 April 2026 was not found, so check for changes. COCOBOD says Ghana is about 99% ready (its own estimate), that farm mapping began in 2005, and that 70% to 80% of farms are mapped.

What it means for you

1. Do not clear forest, and do not plant into forest reserves or along protected stream banks.
2. Make sure your farm is on COCOBOD's map or registered; ask your CHED officer.
3. Keep your farm map and records.
4. Sell through licensed buyers and keep receipts.

This book does not promise any extra price for following the rule; no premium was verified.

5.3 Certification: awareness

Certification means an independent body checks that farms follow a standard, and buyers may pay a premium. The COCOBOD manual describes four steps: an organised farmer group; an internal control system (ICS); internal and then external inspections; and an application. Group certification is cheaper than individual certification.

Under the new Fairtrade rules for Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, 40% of the Premium is paid as cash to cooperative members, at least 10% goes to the cooperative, 10% to farm services and 10% to community projects. The source does not describe the other 30%. UTZ was a third scheme; it has since merged with Rainforest Alliance, but that was not verified here. Whether certified farmers in the Takoradi area actually receive a premium through their LBC was not verified.

5.4 Farmer groups

The COCOBOD manual describes five kinds of group: registered co-operative marketing societies; cocoa farmer marketing societies (a seven-member executive; "kilo-kilo" deductions for bulk input purchase and welfare credit; accountability problems); a farmers' input marketing company; production associations (up to 300 farmers); and farmers' assistance societies (group weeding, spraying and input credit). Kuapa Kokoo is the named success story. Common problems are low capital, weak management, no warehouses and distrust. The registration route for a cooperative with the Department of Co-operatives is not verified and no fees or steps are given here.

Village savings and loan associations (VSLAs). A typical VSLA has 15 to 25 members who pool savings and lend to each other. In 2026 Solidaridad West Africa and Tropenbos Ghana gave revolving grants to 18 VSLAs in cocoa areas under the World Bank-funded EnABLE project, reported at about GH¢2 million. No 2026 programme for cocoa input credit to individual farmers was found.

Joining a group: questions to ask first

1. Who keeps the money, and are accounts shown to all members?
2. What deductions are made (for example kilo-kilo), and what do members get?
3. Is it registered? With whom?
4. How are decisions made, and who can be removed?
5. What happens if the leader leaves?

Check yourself

1. What does a barcode on a cocoa bag help with?
2. What is the main thing the EU deforestation rule asks of land?
3. Name two risks of farmer groups.

Competency standard

Range. Rain-fed smallholder farm. Evidence. Practice plan; spacing sums; oral questions.

6.1 Climate-smart cocoa

Climate-smart agriculture helps a farm produce more, cope with weather swings and cut waste. The World Cocoa Foundation manual describes three climate zones: "coping and opportunity"; "adjustment" (hotter, shorter dry season, more rain); and "transformation" (hotter, less rain, a longer dry season). Which zone covers Akwidaa was not verified. The COCOBOD manual says the Western, Central and Eastern areas will likely become hotter and wetter but remain suitable for cocoa.

Practices

• Plant temporary and permanent shade a year ahead.
• Plant seedlings next to plantain: plantain stems hold moisture and the leaves shade the young plant in a dry spell.
• Use cover crops and mulch to hold moisture and cut weeds.
• Put compost or manure in the planting holes.
• Weed about four times a year and use the cuttings as mulch, but take noxious weeds such as Imperata and Chromolaena off the farm because they grow back.
• Use solar dryers and, in the rainy season, wooden-box fermentation.
• Store beans dry and ventilated.
• Control erosion with mulch, cover crops and shade trees; keep a distance from streams.

The improvement ladder. The manual rates many practices at four steps (minimum, bronze, silver, gold). For example, pruning at the minimum is formation pruning and yearly structural pruning, with sanitary pruning at least three times a year. Use the ladder to move one step at a time. Choose one practice for your block.

6.2 Intercrops and shade-tree spacing

Plant plantain about 1.5 m and cocoyam about 1.0 m from the cocoa seedling, and keep the food crops in lines so you can weed and spray.

Fruit trees and others. Mango, citrus, avocado, cola and oil palm are possible, though many fruit trees are unsuitable because they block pod collection or spraying. Oil palm can act as a barrier crop against swollen shoot, but it also attracts rodents, and cocoa under coconut or oil palm is highly susceptible to rodent loss. A cocoa and coconut mix needs coconut at least 10.1 m apart with cocoa at 3 m × 3 m. Timber rights, harvesting permits and tree registration with the Forestry Commission were not verified.

Five steps for tree diversification (IITA): identify options; select trees by scoring their good and bad points; make a farm map; get planting material; prepare the farm and plant.

6.3 More than one income

COCOBOD lists beekeeping, grasscutter production, mushrooms, chilli pepper, snail rearing, maize, cassava and gari, and cocoyam as options. A large plantain sucker nursery at Suaman-Dadieso supports the rehabilitation drive. Cocoa pod husks can become compost, animal feed (processing and safety were not verified) and potash for soap. The close season for wildlife is 1 August to 1 December, when hunting or capture is not allowed except grasscutter under licence.

Pick two options and list what each needs: land, labour, start-up cost, skill, and when the money comes.

6.4 Galamsey and your land

Illegal gold mining (galamsey) is called the biggest challenge facing the cocoa industry by a COCOBOD Western South regional manager (July 2026). A figure of more than 100,000 acres of high-yield cocoa destroyed in the Ashanti, Western and Central regions has been repeated since 2024 and cannot be treated as exact. In the Western Region, one report counted over 5,040 ha affected, 502 communities and 5,702 farmers (undated). COCOBOD and the Minerals Commission agreed to share the locations of cocoa farms so mining licences can be blocked.

Other harm. Mine-polluted sites and sludge can put heavy metals such as cadmium into soil and beans, and drying beans on contaminated soil or dust can add lead.

What a farmer can do

1. Keep your land documents and farm map; register with the CHED/Cocoa Management System.
2. Keep the boundary visible.
3. Tell the traditional authority and the district assembly early if miners approach.
4. Report illegal mining to the authorities (district security, the Minerals Commission or the police). Do not confront miners.
5. Do not sell or lease your land to miners.
6. Protect streams and keep a buffer of trees.

The exact legal steps for a farmer were not verified; ask the district assembly and your CHED officer.

Check yourself

1. Why plant plantain beside a young cocoa seedling?
2. How many plantain plants fit on 0.25 ha at 3 m × 3 m?
3. Name two things a farmer should not do about galamsey.

Competency standard

Range. A small service or product linked to cocoa. Evidence. Location note; business plan; quote; marketing sheet.

7.1 Location settings that give good returns

The Western Region has seed gardens at Achechere, Saamang and Buako, according to the COCOBOD manual. Whether they are still working and open to the public was not verified.

7.2 Business ideas and ingenuity

7.3 Price a service

Why a margin. A margin pays for tool wear, bad weather days, unpaid time to find work, and your own wage. Do not price at cost.

7.4 Market yourself

• WhatsApp Business has a business profile, a catalogue, and automatic greeting and away messages. Put your name, your services, your area, and photos of your work.
• Google Business Profile is free and lets people near you find you; verification can be by phone, email, video call or a postcard that takes about 14 days.
• Portfolio: before-and-after photos of pruned or replanted blocks (with the farmer's permission), your pod-count sheets, a neat farm map, and a cut-test sheet.
• References: ask your extension officer, your group leader and farmers you worked for.
• Signage: a simple painted board at your nursery or on your gate, in English and Fante.
• Referrals: give your number to every farmer you work for and ask them to tell two neighbours.
• Group membership: belong to a group so that you hear about training and work.
• Honesty: never say you are certified or trained for something you have not done.

7.5 Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) requires accessible public places and bans job discrimination in Ghana; an audit found only 14% of public places checked had any retrofitting. The Assemblies' disability fund rose to 5% in 2026 (this figure is also given in the Workplace Safety Level 2 manual; not re-checked here), so ask your Assembly about help with tools or training.

A Ghana study with 19 people with disabilities in one district found that farming is seen as a route to work but is blocked by lack of land, funds, tools and attitudes; another study found that home visits, tools and inputs were valued supports. Ideas from outside Ghana include wide paths and raised beds, lighter tools, tools adapted for seated work, and family members as helpers. No source on nursery work for wheelchair users was found. These are our suggestions, not tested facts:

• Potting soil and filling polybags at a table at a comfortable height.
• Seated sorting and cut-test work at a raised table; sorting beans for stones and defects needs eyes and hands, not walking.
• Record-keeping, mapping, bookkeeping and group secretary roles.
• Running a small nursery or drying table, directing helpers for the heavier tasks.
• Selling, phone and WhatsApp business work.
• Work for people with low vision: tasks by touch and smell, such as checking dry beans by the crackle test, and sorting.
• Deaf trainees: written or sign-language briefing, flashing signals and a buddy on the farm.
• Spraying and ladder work only where safe and with PPE; a person with chronic breathing disease should not spray.

COCOBOD's own manual uses disrespectful wording for some people when it lists who must not do hazardous work. In practice, decide with the person and the family whether a person can safely follow the instructions for hazardous work.

Women. Women work in planting, weeding, pruning and harvesting and handle fermenting, drying and sorting, though cocoa is often seen as a man's job. Women often have less access to land, inputs, training and finance. Pregnant or nursing women must not do pesticide work. Nursery work, post-harvest handling, husk compost, sucker production and group savings fit many women's circumstances.

Check yourself

1. Why should you not plan a business selling hybrid cocoa seedlings?
2. Why does a price need a margin?
3. Name two things to put in your portfolio.

1. Name the three kinds of pruning and when each is done.
2. What shade level does mature cocoa need?
3. How many pods a year is a good tree, and about how much dry bean is that?
4. What are the four IPM steps?
5. What should you do if you think a tree has swollen shoot?
6. Why must a pesticide product be both EPA-registered and on the COCOBOD list for cocoa?
7. Why do you calibrate a sprayer with water first?
8. How long does a heap ferment, and on which days is it turned?
9. In a 300-bean cut test, how many slaty beans are allowed for Grade 2?
10. Why must beans be dried on a raised surface and not on bare ground or a road?
11. Name two things the EU deforestation rule asks of a cocoa farm.
12. Why should you not plan a business around selling hybrid cocoa seedlings?

Best next reads: the COCOBOD "Manual for Cocoa Extension in Ghana" (free on CGSpace); the IITA manual "Planting, replanting and tree diversification in cocoa systems"; the World Cocoa Foundation climate-smart manual; the Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance pages; your local CHED officer.

What this module does not cover: pesticide or fungicide doses (read the label), grafting and budding (needs skilled training), current compensation rates for swollen-shoot cutting (ask CHED), certification audits, tree-felling permits, trade-specific business registration (see the Level 3 manual), and accident and first-aid training (see the Workplace Safety manuals).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.