Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation Level 3

Who it is for. People who have finished Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation Level 2, or can show the same skills, and who want to supervise a rehabilitation crew, manage a nursery, lead a farmer group, work as a service provider, or run their own cocoa farm or farm-services business. Ghana's TVET framework places National Proficiency II below National Certificate I. This module is written at an advanced level, comparable to National Certificate I; that comparison is the author's judgement, not a CTVET ruling.

Bridge from Level 2: what you already know

Level 2 gave you the skills for a farm. Level 3 joins them into a programme, adds the rules and group models around cocoa, and shows you how to earn from them with honest books.

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 60% of the time is practical, in a nursery, on a demonstration plot and in the classroom with real records. Every unit ends with a Check yourself of three questions.

Competency standard

Range. A farm or group of farms of about 5 to 20 hectares and one nursery. Evidence. Sketch map; survey sheet; block plan with quantities; crew briefing and wage book; nursery layout and record; planting inspection sheet; oral questions.

What a programme is

A rehabilitation programme is a planned set of jobs that brings old, sick or unproductive cocoa land back into production. COCOBOD's own programme felled farms with CSSVD, replanted them and managed them for two years before handing them back to farmers. One report puts the surveyed affected area at 315,800 ha out of 1.9 million ha, with 214,500 ha in the Western North region. Another says about 156,000 ha were affected, 40,000 ha were rehabilitated and handed over in 2024, and 27,000 ha were abandoned midway for lack of finance. These numbers do not agree, so treat them as rough. The point for you: the work is large, it is done in stages, and plans that ignore money and labour stop halfway.

Replanting under the COCOBOD programme is contracted to service providers who plant economic trees, plantain suckers and cocoa; plantain suckers and tree seedlings are free. In 2019 the initial treatment grant was raised from GH¢552.96 to GH¢1,000 per hectare. That is a 2019 figure only. No 2025 or 2026 compensation rate, application steps or phone numbers were found; ask your CHED district officer and do not quote 2019 rates as current.

Step 1: Survey and map the farm

You cannot manage what you have not measured. Do this before any plan.

Survey sheet (copy this).

Common mistakes and fixes. Mapping without the owner (fix: walk it together). Pacing differently each time (fix: measure your pace over a 30 m rope first). Counting only the good trees at the roadside (fix: walk a line through the middle). Cutting a suspect tree yourself (fix: report; COCOBOD's programme handles cut-out).

Step 2: Decide an option for each block

Use the decision questions from Level 2: Are my trees still productive? Is CSSVD on the farm? Can the family live three years without cocoa income? Is there labour? Is the land secure?. Then match each block:

When large areas are cut, plant a barrier of immune crops such as citrus or oil palm around the new field; mealybugs lose the virus about 48 hours after feeding on an uninfected plant.

Step 3: The block plan and calendar

Cocoa work follows the rains. Build the plan backwards from planting day.

Put the plan on one wall chart: blocks down the side, months across, and a name against every job.

Step 4: Quantities, with a margin

At 3 m by 3 m spacing there are 1,111 cocoa trees per hectare. Work from the area, not from guesswork.

Step 5: Labour crews and supervision

Labour is the biggest cost of rehabilitation. Estimate it per job, then per hectare, then per programme.

Example work rates (invented for practice; measure your own crew and replace them): lining and pegging 1 ha takes 6 man-days; digging 1,111 holes at 35 holes a day takes about 32 man-days; planting cocoa seedlings at 80 a day takes about 14; planting plantain suckers at 60 a day takes about 19. Total about 71 man-days per hectare.

Running a crew.

Step 6: Nurseries at scale

A big nursery follows the Level 1 and 2 method, only wider. Use free COCOBOD hybrid seedlings when you can: the Seed Production Division raises them free at 380 or more sites, mostly handed out May to July. Hybrid pods for your own nursery must come from SPD seed gardens, because pods from farmers' trees are naturally pollinated and cannot be used as planting material. Whether the seed gardens listed for Western Region still supply the public was not verified; ask the regional COCOBOD office.

Nursery troubleshooting.

Step 7: Check quality and survival

Check yourself

1. Why do you walk the boundary with the owner and neighbours present?
2. How many cocoa seedlings does 3 ha need at 3 m by 3 m with 20% spare?
3. Name two jobs that must be finished before planting day.

Competency standard

Range. A farm of 2 to 10 ha, with a heap or box fermentation and a drying platform. Evidence. Nutrient plan; monitoring record; quality control sheet; cut-test result; oral questions.

Nutrition and soil testing awareness

Cocoa yield often falls after about ten years of bearing, mainly because soil fertility declines. COCOBOD's advice is that fertiliser pays only when the basics are right: improved planting material, control of weeds, black pod and capsids, removal of CSSVD trees, chupons and mistletoe, and the right shade. Continuous fertiliser use for three to four years can double yield, but the first two years' response is usually small.

Facts to know.

• Fertiliser comes as organic (poultry manure, compost, cocoa pod husk ash), granular inorganic for the soil, and liquid for the leaf.
• Apply once a year at the start of the main rains (April or May) on moist soil. Keep granules off the leaves because they scorch.
• The only COCOBOD rate found in full text is 3 bags of 50 kg per acre for the listed granular products and 8 bags per acre for the listed organic ones. That list is old and "subject to change", so check the current COCOBOD list before buying.
• Convert: 3 × 50 = 150 kg per acre, which is about 371 kg per hectare, or about 7.4 bags of 50 kg per hectare (derived by script; one hectare is about 2.471 acres). The manual gives no per-tree gram figure for mature trees.
• In 2026 the government budgeted GH¢2.7 billion for free fertiliser distribution, with distribution from May 2026 through district points. Ask your CHED officer when and where.
• Cheap unapproved fertilisers are the most likely source of cadmium contamination. Buy only approved fertiliser through COCOBOD channels or approved dealers.
• Compost: made from pod husk, bean shells, manure, ashes, grass and leaves; keep it moist, not wet; finished compost is brown-black and earthy; immature compost harms crops.

Soil testing awareness. A laboratory soil test tells you pH, organic matter and nutrient levels, but this research did not find a Ghana price or a farmer-facing laboratory route. The Cocoasoils programme handed COCOBOD a training manual in 2022 with first-version recommendations from ongoing trials, but its rate tables and licence were not obtained. So until you get written recommendations, rely on the field checks below and your extension officer.

Disease and pest management programmes

A programme is a written calendar of checks and actions for the season, not a reaction to what you saw last week. All spraying below is a decision for you and your extension officer and follows the product label. This book gives no doses.

Black pod (Phytophthora). It starts as a small brown spot 2 to 3 days after infection, turns chocolate brown over the whole pod in 7 to 14 days, and can attack from small cherelles to ripe pods. It spreads by contact, rain splash, ants, insects, rodents and hands or tools.

Cultural control (do first, all year). Reduce shade to the right level, weed 2 to 4 times, prune and remove chupons, space at 3 m by 3 m, remove infected and mummified pods, harvest regularly, and remove or treat husk heaps, which are a source of infection.

Chemical control (only approved products, label dose). The sources disagree on timing:

Teach this rule: spray about every 3 to 4 weeks while pods are on the tree and it is raining; always follow the label and your extension officer; the free CODAPEC gang does about three rounds from June to October and farmers are encouraged to add extra rounds. Do not spray close to harvest; the waiting period is on the label and was not found in the manual.

Capsids (mirids). Brown mirid, black mirid and the cocoa mosquito make water-soaked patches on shoots and pods that turn black in 2 to 3 days. They are present all year, especially August to April. Monitor monthly at hand height and act when the average reaches 6 mirids per 10 trees. The timing sources disagree: COCOBOD-Manual says monthly spraying August to December omitting November at peak season, with limited spraying January to July only where numbers or damage are high; CODAPEC does two rounds a year, April to May and August to September. The 2026 campaign started its first six-week round in April 2026.

CSSVD. There is no chemical cure; the only option is cut-out and replanting through the COCOBOD route. Eradication radius: up to 10 visibly infected trees, cut all within 5 m of each; 11 to 100, within 10 m; over 100, within 15 m. Never sell infected stems or plants.

Mistletoe. Cut off the infested branch as soon as seen, before flowering and fruiting; it flowers in March and April and again in July and August. Children must never climb ladders to remove mistletoe.

Post-harvest quality systems

Fermentation and drying decide the flavour and the grade. A quality system is a set of steps with a check and a record at each step. Treat each step as a control point: if it fails, stop and fix it before the next step.

COCOBOD notes that harmattan cold nights hurt fermentation. Beans at 8% moisture or higher can grow the mould that makes ochratoxin A. Drying on road edges or contaminated soil can add lead or other contaminants. A solar dryer of wood and clear plastic can help in the rains, but bean temperature should not pass 65 °C and the beans must not dry too fast (acidic, bitter) or too slowly (mould).

Fermentation boxes, baskets and trays. A perforated hardwood box (about 1.2 m each side for 1,000 kg), raised on a drain, is turned by moving beans to the lower box. A basket holds 10 to 150 kg of wet beans, lined with plantain leaves. Trays of about 90 kg wet beans, 6 to 12 stacked, are covered after 24 hours with sacks and not turned, and take 3 to 5 days. A heap of at least 300 kg wet beans needs several farms' beans, which is why neighbours often share a fermenting place (Unit 4).

Wet to dry. Fresh beans lose about two-thirds of their weight; the rule is about 3 kg fresh to 1 kg dry. A heap of 300 kg wet beans becomes about 100 kg dry, which is 1.56 bags of 64 kg.

Defects: diagnose and prevent.

Grading and premiums

At the Quality Control Company (QCC) a cut test is done on 300 beans cut lengthwise. For Grade 1, mouldy beans may be at most 3%, slaty at most 3%, and insect-damaged plus germinated plus flat at most 3% together. For Grade 2, mouldy at most 4%, slaty at most 8%, and the combined group at most 6%. Worse than Grade 2 is substandard and not marketable. Bean counts per 100 g also classify the lot, for example 91 to 100 beans is main crop, but the table layout in the source was scrambled, so check the exact bean-count mapping with QCC.

The price. The 2026/27 official producer price is GH¢42,400 per tonne and GH¢2,650 per 64 kg bag from 25 September 2026, up from GH¢41,392. Quirk worth knowing: 42,400 × 0.064 = GH¢2,713.60, so the quoted bag price is not simply the tonne price times 64 kg; it equals the tonne price divided by 16, and the reason was not verified. Use the official bag price and ask the buying clerk to show the price list and the scale. Farmers get at least 70% of the realised gross FOB value under the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, 2026 (Act 1182).

Premiums. Good quality keeps your cocoa from being marked substandard, but no extra grade premium on the farm-gate price was verified. Certification premiums (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance) are separate and paid through groups (Unit 3 and 4). The Rainforest Alliance premium paid in Ghana today and whether any reaches farmers around Akwidaa were not verified.

Check yourself

1. What is the minimum heap size for heap fermentation and about how many days does it last?
2. What moisture must dry beans reach, and how do you test it on the farm?
3. If the CODAPEC gang has already done three rounds, can you add more black pod rounds? Who decides?

Competency standard

Range. A farm or small business selling cocoa and employing up to ten workers. Evidence. Compliance file; labour-case answers; audit checklist; oral questions.

Who regulates what

COCOBOD rules and licensed buying companies

1. Cocoa is sold to licensed buying companies through their purchasing clerks. COCOBOD supplies the prescribed jute bags to LBCs, who give them to farmers via agents. After drying, farmers bag the beans and sell to LBC agents.
2. The official bag weight is 64 kg at the Take Over Centre.
3. The weighing scale must be certified by the Ghana Standards Authority and tampering is illegal; if you suspect manipulation report to COCOBOD or the police. Most tampering reports found date from 2014 to 2020; whether it still happens was not verified.
4. The official price for 2026/27 is GH¢42,400 per tonne and GH¢2,650 per 64 kg bag from 25 September 2026. Farmers must receive at least 70% of realised gross FOB value.
5. Payment risk is real. An industry group estimated nearly GHS 4 billion unpaid to buyers, COCOBOD released GH¢2.6 billion on 2 July 2026, and buying on credit was banned from the 2026/27 season. If an LBC owes you, contact that LBC and COCOBOD.
6. Selling outside licensed channels is unlawful; the 2026 reforms aim to curb smuggling.
7. Each bag is embossed with its grade, LBC code, region, society code, lot number and a seal number, and is checked at three tiers.

Traceability and the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR)

Ghana has a cocoa traceability system: barcodes on bags scanned at community, district and port levels, announced as fully deployed across cocoa-growing areas with the 2026/27 price. The Cocoa Management System captures farmer biodata and farm measurements and issues cocoa identity cards linked to the national identification system. Whether a farmer must show the card to sell today was not verified.

The EU Deforestation Regulation covers cocoa. Its application was postponed to 30 December 2026 for medium and large operators and traders, and 30 June 2027 for micro and small operators. Only the first operator placing the product on the EU market submits the due diligence statement, and small and micro operators submit a simplified declaration. The review due by 30 April 2026 may change details; its outcome was not found. COCOBOD says Ghana is about 99% ready (its own estimate), with farm mapping started in 2005 and 70 to 80% of farms mapped.

In plain language for a farmer: the cocoa must not come from land cleared of forest after 31 December 2020, and the plot must be known on a map. So do not clear forest, do not plant into forest reserves, keep your farm map and farmer details, keep sales receipts, and do not mix beans from other farms with yours. Do not promise buyers or farmers a price premium for EUDR compliance; none was verified.

Certification audits

Certification means an outside body checks that your farm or group follows a standard (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance). Smallholders usually join through a group. COCOBOD's manual lists four steps: be an organised group, set up an internal control system (ICS), pass inspections (internal then external), and apply. Group certification costs less than individual certification. Rainforest Alliance and UTZ require a full ICS and Fairtrade requires parts of it. UTZ has since merged into Rainforest Alliance; that is not in the manual and was not verified here.

The ICS is the group's own checking system. Its records include a member register and farm map, a farmer profile, production estimates, inputs applied, training received and inspection reports. The Rainforest Alliance's standard for cocoa is described in its cocoa policy; its 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard version 1.4 took effect in October 2025.

Fairtrade (announced December 2025). The minimum price for conventional cocoa in Ghana was raised 45% to US$3,500 per tonne and the premium up 15% to US$275 per tonne; in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire at least 40% of the premium is to be paid as cash to cooperative members, at least 10% to the cooperative, 10% to farm services and 10% to community projects. The start date appears as 1 September or 1 October 2026 in different versions of the notice, and a later edit says prices take effect when each government announces its season price, so the exact start date is not verified. 40% of US$275 is US$110 per tonne in cash (derived).

Labour and child-labour rules

COCOBOD's manual summarises Ghana's child-labour rules as follows.

• A child is under 18. The minimum age for employment is 15. A child aged 13 or more may do light work. Hazardous work is for those aged 18 and above.
• Children must not work at night. Teach the stricter rule: no farm work after 6 pm, since the source gives both 8 pm and 6 pm.
• Children in school: not more than 2 hours on a school day and 3 hours on a non-school day.
• Load: not more than 30% of body weight over about 3 km, and up to 50% over short distances (about 500 m).
• Ages 13 to 14 may accompany parents on weekends or holidays, run errands, pick pods from the ground with adults, fill nursery bags, water seedlings, and fetch water for spraying but leave before spraying starts.
• Ages 15 to 17 may also weed or brush with a small cutlass, pluck pods within hand reach, break pods with a mallet and carry loads within the weight limit.
• Hazardous for under-18s: applying pesticides (even with PPE), removing mistletoe from ladders, heavy loads, unsuitable tools, working alone, travelling alone and being kept from school.
• Protective clothing for children: boots, long trousers and sleeves, hat; breaks 10 minutes every hour; water every hour; a sick child never works.
• Keep a record for workers aged 15 to 17: date of birth, parents' or guardian's names, place of origin and residence.

Related laws named in the manual are the Human Trafficking Act 2005 (Act 694), the Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act 732), the National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa and the Hazardous Child Labour Activity Framework 2008.

For adult workers, the employer provides clean drinking water, toilets with hand washing, a first aid box and PPE for hazardous work, and separate facilities for women and men. The Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) requires a written contract for work of six months or more (section 12), a written statement of terms within two months (section 13), 15 working days of paid leave (section 20), and 12 weeks of maternity leave (section 57). Casual workers get the full minimum for each day worked (section 74). Pregnant or nursing women must not do pesticide work.

Pesticide, fertiliser and environmental rules

• The Pesticide Control and Management Act 1996 (Act 528) says no one may import, sell, distribute or use a pesticide in Ghana unless it is registered with the EPA, and dealers need a licence. The Environmental Protection Act 2025 (Act 1124) consolidates earlier environmental laws. What this means for a small nursery or spraying business is not verified; ask the EPA.
• Two lists, not one. EPA registration and the COCOBOD/CRIG list of products for cocoa are separate. An EPA-registered product may still be not approved for cocoa. In 2018 there were 46 products recommended for cocoa (33 insecticides, 13 fungicides) out of 569 EPA-registered pesticides in February 2017, and 80% of sampled input shops had no COCOBOD-approved pesticides. Buy from licensed dealers and check the product on the current COCOBOD list.
• COCOBOD has discouraged weedicides and warned against unapproved ones such as 2,4-D products because of bean contamination and market rejection. Teach manual weeding.
• WHO classes Ia and Ib are too hazardous for cocoa.
• Keep receipts and invoices for chemicals as evidence for inspection. Rinse containers three times, puncture them, store them securely and hand them over as the extension officer directs; never burn them, never reuse them for water or food.
• Store chemicals in a locked, ventilated place away from food, bedrooms and medicines.
• Do not spray within 10 m of homes, canteens or warehouses unless there is a drift barrier; put up a warning sign with the date and re-entry time.
• A formal farmer-applicator certificate in Ghana was not found.
• Wildlife: the close season for hunting runs from 1 August to 1 December, with grasscutter under licence the exception.
• Water: keep farm work away from streams, and do not dump containers or residues in water.

Land tenure and women's land rights

Cocoa takes years. A farm planted on land you cannot keep is a loss. COCOBOD's manual lists land documents among the farm records farmers should keep. Beyond that, this research did not verify Ghana's land-registration steps, fees or the exact legal force of customary agreements. Ask the district Lands Commission office and a lawyer.

Practical steps that do not depend on the exact law.

1. Write down how you hold the land (family land, bought, rented, shared with the owner) and who the owner is.
2. Make a written agreement for any rent or sharecropping. State the land (with the map), the length of time, who pays for what (nursery, labour, inputs), how the crop is shared, who owns the planted trees, and what happens at the end. Sign it with witnesses; ask the traditional authority or an elder to witness.
3. Keep copies. Give the owner one.
4. Share-cropping arrangements exist in cocoa areas, but terms vary and were not verified here. Do not plant long-lived trees on land under a short, unwritten agreement.
5. Complete the Forestry Commission tree-ownership form if you plant shade or timber trees; the manual says this guarantees ownership of planted trees, but the form's content was not readable in the source, so ask the Commission.
6. Tell the district assembly and traditional authority early if mining is near. Do not sell or lease farmland to illegal miners, and report illegal mining to the proper authorities rather than confronting miners. The exact legal procedure was not verified.

Women's land rights. Being recognised as a farmer is tied to land ownership, and women often have less access to inputs, training, extension and finance because they lack title; matrilineal inheritance customs are fluid and gendered, and sharecropping landowners often prefer men. Women take part in planting, weeding, pruning and harvesting and handle fermenting, drying and sorting, yet cocoa is often called a "man's job" with women as "helpers". As a manager: put the name of every woman who farms a plot on the group register, pay women the same day rate for the same job, offer training in the same room at times she can come, and help a woman farmer to have her own written agreement and receipts in her own name.

Check yourself

1. What must the scale be certified by, and what should you get after selling cocoa?
2. What are the EUDR dates for micro and small operators and for medium and large ones?
3. Can a 17-year-old apply a COCOBOD-approved fungicide with full PPE?

Competency standard

Range. A group of 15 to 40 members, or a small service business working with such a group. Evidence. Group rules; share-out calculation; service pricing sheet; credit agreement; oral questions.

Group types in Ghana cocoa

COCOBOD's manual describes five:

Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union is named as a success story. COCOBOD's key lesson is farmer education and applying co-operative principles. How to register a cooperative or farmer-based organisation, and the fees, were not verified: cooperatives are not registered at the Registrar of Companies, and the Department of Co-operatives route was not confirmed. Ask the Department.

Savings groups (VSLAs)

A village savings and loan association typically has 15 to 25 members who pool savings and lend to each other. In July 2026 reports said Solidaridad West Africa and Tropenbos Ghana gave revolving grants to 18 VSLAs in cocoa areas under the World Bank-funded EnABLE project. A formal credit line for cocoa input credit in 2026 was not found; the earlier African Development Bank-funded line was for the CSSVD rehabilitation programme, not farmer loans.

The "kilo kilo" system

In a cocoa farmer marketing society, 1 kg of beans per bag is deducted for bulk input purchase and welfare credit. Accounting for it must be open, or distrust grows.

Service-provider models

A service provider does a job for farmers for a fee or a contract. Each model needs tools, trained people, safety and an honest price.

Examples of nursery enterprises: a cooperative nursery with an 80,000-seedling capacity at Adansi, with 60,000 cocoa and 20,000 shade trees, and a 400-ha plantain seedling nursery at Suaman-Dadieso supporting the rehabilitation drive. Private nursery prices were not verified; one online advert showed a hybrid seedling at GH¢2 but the date and unit were unclear.

CODAPEC numbers for context. In 2026 COCOBOD procured 13,000 pneumatic sprayers and 14,000 mist blowers and raised the monthly allowance for spraying team members from GH¢500 to GH¢700. A gang of seven at GH¢700 each is GH¢4,900 a month in allowances (derived). COCOBOD bought 89,721 PPE sets for its spray teams.

Input credit and outgrower arrangements

An outgrower scheme is an arrangement where a nursery, group, trader or buyer gives farmers inputs or services up front and recovers the cost from the crop. The risks: side-selling (the farmer sells to someone else and does not repay), non-repayment after a poor season, and unclear terms.

Premium money and group accountability

When a certified group receives a premium, the rules matter. Under Fairtrade in Ghana, the premium is to be split: at least 40% cash to members, at least 10% to the cooperative, 10% for farm services and 10% for community projects. The notice read did not say how the remaining share is used, so ask Fairtrade or your group's certifier; the exact start date is also not verified.

Check yourself

1. What does "kilo kilo" mean?
2. How many members does a typical VSLA have?
3. Why can a nursery business not rely only on selling hybrid cocoa seedlings?

Competency standard

Range. A one- to ten-person cocoa farm, nursery or service business in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ahanta West (Akwidaa) or nearby. Evidence. Registration checklist; start-up budget; one-page plan; oral questions.

What business could you start?

Many people sell cocoa and also run a side service. Start with one.

Choose a legal form

Annual returns cost GH¢175 a year, with late fees of GH¢1,000 (1 to 4 years) or GH¢2,000 (5 years or more). A nursery or service business starting alone or with a partner usually begins as a sole proprietor or partnership. A farmer group that wants shared ownership of a fermentary may prefer a cooperative or a guarantee company; ask the Department of Co-operatives and a lawyer.

Registration, step by step

1. Choose a name and register it at the Office of the Registrar of Companies.
2. Tax identity. Your Ghana Card PIN is your individual TIN. A company gets a GRA TIN after ORC registration.
3. Assembly business operating permit from the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) portal; fees follow the STMA fee-fixing resolution; renew each year (confirm the 31 March deadline with STMA). Ahanta West has its own District Assembly; ask the Assembly for its permit and fee, which this research did not read.
4. Trade licences that apply to your idea: the EPA licence for selling pesticides; GSA certification for any scale used to weigh cocoa for sale; the Forestry Commission for shade-tree work (ask); and COCOBOD if you work with its programmes. If you later make a food or drink from cocoa pulp or pod husks, the Food and Drugs Authority registers locally made food products at GH¢100 (micro), 200 (small), 300 (medium) or 500 (large) per year, plus GH¢200 for pre-registration label evaluation per product per variant. Rules for pod-husk feed and pulp drinks were not verified.
5. Register workers with SSNIT when you hire.
6. Open a business bank or mobile money account, separate from your personal one.
7. Keep your documents in the farm or business file (Unit 3).

Tax. Residents with business income only, not VAT-registered, may use the Modified Taxation Scheme: fixed instalments up to GH¢20,000 turnover and 3% of turnover from GH¢20,001 to GH¢750,000; professionals and partners are excluded. Companies pay 25% as the standard rate, with other rates by sector; manufacturers in regional capitals other than Accra and Tema (this includes Takoradi) pay 18.5%. The VAT registration threshold for goods rose to GH¢750,000 from 1 January 2026, and for services there is no turnover threshold, so a service business registers within 30 days of starting taxable supplies. Whether your nursery or spraying service counts as "goods" or "services", and whether farm and agricultural supplies are exempt from VAT or income tax, was not verified: ask GRA. Whether income from selling cocoa beans is taxable and by which scheme is also not verified.

Land and premises

• For a farm: how you hold the land decides everything (Unit 3). Do not start a long-lived crop without a written agreement.
• For a nursery: the site needs permanent water, flat land, shade and a safe fence (Unit 1). Rent or borrow land under a written agreement for at least two nursery cycles.
• For a service business: start from home with a store for tools and a safe lock-up for PPE. Store any chemicals a client's farm supplies only according to the rules in Unit 3.
• Location that gives good returns: near cocoa farms that need the service, with road access and water; a nursery near the farms you plan to supply to save transport; a drying or fermenting site away from fuel, kitchens and bakeries (200 m is the COCOBOD storage guide).

Start-up budgets (examples)

Example A: a small nursery (5,000 seedlings per cycle; all prices are invented for practice):

Example B: a two-sprayer service crew (safety equipment before work; the crew sells service, not chemicals):

Sprayer, PPE and tool prices were not verified; replace the example numbers with three quotes from licensed dealers in Takoradi.

Financing

Own savings; a susu or VSLA group (Unit 4); microfinance; bank loans; the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), which offers SME GO, Business-in-a-Box, SME High Growth and Kaizen, with Business Advisory Centres in Takoradi, Shama, Effia-Kwesimintsim, Mpohor and Ahanta West. GIRSAL provides guarantees for agricultural loans through partner lenders. The 2026 Budget set aside GH¢401 million for the Women's Development Bank, GH¢170 million for a National Apprenticeship Programme and GH¢160 million for Adwumawura; how to apply for each was not verified. District Assemblies' disability fund rose to 5% in 2026 and is aimed at skills, assistive devices and start-up capital. No 2026 cocoa input credit programme for farmers was found. Borrow only when sales and repayment are clear.

Hiring and supervising

• The Labour Act requires a written contract for work of six months or more (s.12), a written statement of terms within two months (s.13), 15 working days of paid leave (s.20), 12 weeks of maternity leave (s.57), and for casual workers the full minimum for each day worked (s.74).
• The minimum wage is GH¢21.77 a day in 2026, about GH¢587.79 a month at 27 days.
• SSNIT: employee 5.5% and employer 13% of basic salary; the employer pays within 14 days after month-end. PAYE is due by the 15th.
• Workers under 18 follow the age, hours, task and weight limits in Unit 3.
• An apprentice learns by doing: agree a written training plan, safety first, supervised tasks, no hazardous work for under-18s, and a certificate or reference at the end.
• Provide clean water, toilets, first aid and PPE.

Insurance

Use only insurers licensed by the National Insurance Commission; check at nic.gov.gh. Which covers are compulsory for a small cocoa business, and whether crop or farm cover exists for smallholders, were not verified; ask the NIC and an insurer. Consider cover for workers' injuries, tools and, for a spraying crew, liability.

Market yourself honestly

Use a WhatsApp Business profile with your hours, service list and photos and a free Google Business Profile. Show your demonstration plot or nursery, references from a CHED officer or farmer group, and your safety rules. Never promise a yield, a certification or a price; promise a service and a standard. Never use a product name to suggest COCOBOD approval you do not have.

Accessibility

Ghana's Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) covers equal rights and accessibility. A Ghana study found farming is seen as a route to work for persons with disabilities but is blocked by lack of land, funds, tools and negative attitudes, and that home visits, tools and inputs were valued extension supports. Adaptation ideas from outside Ghana include wide paths and raised beds within reach, lighter tools, wider spacing, and seated work with bench seating. The following are the author's suggestions, not from a source: potting and bag-filling at a table of bench height; seated bean sorting and grading on raised tables; record-keeping, bookkeeping, supervision and buying-store roles for people who cannot walk long distances; spraying and ladder work only where safe and with PPE, and not for people with chronic breathing disease. People who cannot safely follow instructions for hazardous work should be matched to safer tasks, decided with the person and the family, never assumed.

One-page plan and pitch

Fit on one page: customers and problem; service or product and prices; land or site and location; start-up cost and finance; monthly costs and break-even; licences, training and safety rules; how you will advertise; ethics (no child labour, no unapproved chemicals, no smuggling).

Check yourself

1. How much does it cost to register a sole-proprietor business name in 2026?
2. Who licenses the sale of pesticides in Ghana?
3. Name two roles in a cocoa business that a person who cannot walk long distances could do.

Competency standard

Range. A small cocoa farm of 2 to 10 ha or a nursery and services business. Evidence. Cash book; costing sheet; month-end pack; payroll sheet; oral questions.

The core rule

Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, capital and income; the trial balance checks totals but cannot catch every error. Keep owner money and business money apart: pay yourself a fixed drawing. COCOBOD's manual notes that farm records help with planning, budgeting, credit, taxation and certification.

The books a cocoa business keeps

Record types in COCOBOD's list are the financial journal, production, labour and supplement records. Net farm income is revenue minus expenses; yield per hectare and net returns per man-day are other measures.

Cost per hectare and income from bags

Work with bags of 64 kg at the COCOBOD price: GH¢2,650 a bag. That is GH¢41.41 per kilogram if shared over 64 kg (2,650 ÷ 64). Revenue is bags × price. Revenue is not profit.

For a mature hectare, count labour in man-days and every cost separately. Use these example working figures (replace them with your own records): fixed labour per hectare per year = weeding 24 man-days (two rounds of 12), pruning 10, extra spraying coordination 3, so 37 man-days at GH¢60 = GH¢2,220; inputs bought (for example extra fungicide rounds) GH¢400; tools and sprayer depreciation GH¢120. Fixed cost per hectare is GH¢2,740. Variable cost per bag = 2.1 man-days of harvesting, pod breaking, fermenting and drying (GH¢126) plus GH¢15 for sacks and transport = GH¢141 per bag.

A yield of 5 bags (320 kg) is close to the 328 kg per hectare average found in one survey, while about 1,500 kg is described as potential. Survey figures say average net household income was about GH¢24,348 against a living-income benchmark of about GH¢60,351 and that 94% of farmers were below the benchmark. These come from earlier surveys and may not match the 2026 price. The table is an example, not a promise. It leaves out: land rent, interest, your own unpaid family labour, the three-year cost of establishing a new farm, losses from LBC payment delays, and tax.

Break-even = fixed cost ÷ (price per bag − variable cost per bag). Using the example, 2,740 ÷ (2,650 − 141) = 2,740 ÷ 2,509 = 1.09 bags per hectare.

Establishing a new hectare. The cost table in COCOBOD's manual is old and "purely illustrative", so use only its structure. Using the 71 man-days per hectare from Unit 1 at the example GH¢60, planting costs GH¢4,260; plantain suckers at an example GH¢3 each for 1,111 suckers cost GH¢3,333; 18 shade trees at an example GH¢5 each cost GH¢90. First-year establishment is therefore GH¢7,683 per hectare (example), excluding free cocoa seedlings and free fertiliser (if supplied) and the work of the next two years. Spread the cost over an example 25 productive years: about GH¢307 a year, which belongs in the cost per hectare as "establishment cost written off".

A cash book page for a nursery (example)

Trial-style check. Opening 3,000 + receipts 4,900 − payments 1,870 = 3,030. If the closing balance does not equal cash in the box plus the MoMo wallet, find the difference before you do anything else. Prices in the table are examples.

Stock cards and mark-up

Polybag stock card (example). Opening 2,000 bags; bought 3,000 at GH¢0.30; used 3,500; closing 1,500 bags worth 1,500 × 0.30 = GH¢450. Count the bags on the shelf each month and compare with the card; a gap means waste, theft or a recording error.

Mark-up and margin. Mark-up is profit ÷ cost; margin is profit ÷ selling price. If you buy plantain suckers at GH¢3 and sell at GH¢4.50, the profit is GH¢1.50: mark-up 50%, margin 33.3%.

Nursery break-even (example). Selling price GH¢5 per seedling; variable cost GH¢2.20; fixed costs GH¢1,500 a month. Break-even = 1,500 ÷ (5 − 2.20) = 536 seedlings a month (535.7 rounded up).

Depreciation (straight line) = (cost − salvage) ÷ useful life. A knapsack sprayer bought at GH¢1,800, salvage GH¢300, life 5 years: GH¢300 a year, GH¢25 a month.

Month-end routine

1. Total the cash book; count the cash and agree it with the book.
2. Reconcile bank and mobile-money statements to the cash book. Example: the book says the MoMo wallet holds GH¢1,850 but the statement shows GH¢1,822.50. The GH¢27.50 difference is unrecorded charges; enter them as a payment.
3. Update stock cards and count stock; update the debtors and creditors lists.
4. Run a trial-style check: opening + receipts − payments = closing.
5. Write the income statement: income minus costs equals profit.
6. Write a simple balance sheet: what you own and owe.
7. Look ahead: next month's cash, and the next harvest or planting season.
8. File the records (Unit 3 file).

A year in numbers (example)

This example follows the capstone forecast in Unit 7: a small nursery and farm-services business that starts the year with GH¢8,000 cash, all of it the owner's.

Cash paid out during the year: costs 43,930 + equipment bought 2,670 (sprayer 1,800 and tools 870) + owner's drawings 7,200 = 53,800, which matches the forecast payments in Unit 7.

Assets (11,780) equal liabilities (none) plus equity (11,780). 3% of this turnover (55,500) is GH¢1,665 if the business uses the Modified Taxation Scheme. Tax was left out of the cash flow in Unit 7 to keep it simple; add it as an exercise.

Payroll: SSNIT and PAYE

PAYE 2026 monthly bands: first GH¢588 at 0%; next 80 at 5%; next 100 at 10%; next 2,900 at 17.5%; next 16,000 at 25%; next 30,332 at 30%; above 50,000 at 35%. Deduct the employee's SSNIT 5.5% before working out PAYE. Casual workers pay 5%. The bands apply from 1 September 2026. PAYE is due by the 15th of the next month. SSNIT: employee 5.5% and employer 13%; the employer pays within 14 days after month-end, with 13.5% going to SSNIT Tier 1 and 5% to a private Tier 2 trustee; late payment costs 3% a month.

Tax records and the law

Keep records in Ghana for at least six years from the end of the year of assessment or VAT period. Filing calendar: SSNIT by the 14th; PAYE and withholding tax by the 15th; VAT by the last working day; provisional tax quarterly; annual return within four months of year-end; the STMA permit by 31 March. Withholding tax: services 7.5% (individual or entity over GH¢2,000 a year), works 5%, goods 3%. If a client withholds tax from your fee, ask for a withholding certificate. Free tools: Excel or Google Sheets, the Zoho Books free plan and Wave. From 1 January 2027 the 2025 IFRS for SMEs applies to companies that use it.

Check yourself

1. What is the revenue for 12 bags at GH¢2,650 a bag?
2. What is the difference between mark-up and margin?
3. How long must business records be kept?

Competency standard

Range. A farm, nursery or service business plan. Evidence. One-page plan; forecast; panel score sheet.

Quality systems and customer care

• Give every client a written visit report: what you found (counts, photos), what you did, what to do next, and the cost.
• Use the same checklist on every job. For a spraying or pruning crew that means the PPE, label and safety checks of Unit 3; for a nursery, the germination and hardening-off records of Unit 1.
• Ask for feedback after each job (one question: "What should we do better?"). Answer complaints in writing within two days (good practice).
• Improve in steps. The WCF climate-smart manual uses a minimum, bronze, silver and gold ladder for each practice, which is a good way to plan improvement year by year.
• Reduce waste: in climate-smart cocoa, a goal is to cut pesticide use by 20% (bronze and silver) or 30% (gold) in the "coping" zone through prevention, correct dose, monitoring and targeted spraying. Which zone Akwidaa falls in was not verified.

Pricing and scaling

Price from cost: include your time, labour, transport, tools, depreciation, a margin and a buffer for bad weather and late payment. Offer packages: a yearly farm-care package (pruning, sanitation, records), a nursery supply contract for a group, a certification-records package. Give group discounts only if your margin stays positive. Raise prices when you are always booked.

To scale: write each job as a one-page procedure; train and promote a crew leader before adding a second crew; add one service at a time; keep your quality checks the same on every site; and do not grow faster than your cash and your supervision. Do not grow into work you are not licensed or trained for.

Contracts, tenders and partnerships

• Put every job in writing: scope, area, price, payment dates, who supplies what, safety rules, how long, how either side ends it, and what happens if the weather stops work.
• Bigger buyers may ask for registration, TIN, tax clearance, insurance, proof of qualifications, references, a price and a safety plan. These are general practice; what COCOBOD or any particular agency requires for rehabilitation contracts was not found. Ask your CHED officer and the district office.
• Withholding tax may be deducted from your fee: services 7.5%, works 5%, goods 3%. Ask the payer for the certificate.
• Partnerships: with farmer groups (nursery supply, service contracts), with other service providers (a spraying gang and a pruning team can share a client list), and with training bodies. Write the split of money, tools and responsibility before the first job.
• Paying suppliers and workers late loses good people. Pay workers on the agreed day.

Records for a loan

Lenders ask for registration, TIN, 6 to 12 months of cash book and MoMo statements, a plan, and often evidence of the land or the contract. Tidy books are your best collateral. GIRSAL guarantees agricultural loans through partner lenders, so ask a lender whether your loan could be covered.

Succession and ethics

• Write down who takes over the farm or business if you are ill or die, and where the papers are. Land succession, particularly under customary tenure, is a legal question: ask a lawyer or the Lands Commission (not verified here).
• Write your procedures down so the business runs without you.
• Ethics, firm lines: no child labour on hazardous tasks; no pesticide use outside the label and the approved list; no mixing other farms' beans with your own to hide origin; no clearing forest to plant cocoa; no smuggling; no bribing the scale or the grader; no false promises of income or certification.
• Look after your people: pay on time, give water, breaks and first aid, and treat women and men equally.

Capstone: one-page plan and 12-month cash-flow forecast

Fill one row per month. In training use example numbers; in your real plan use your own.

What a cash-flow forecast is. For each month: opening cash + receipts − payments = closing cash. A profit does not mean cash: customers who pay late, seasonal sales and loan repayments all move cash. If closing cash goes below zero in any month, plan the fix.

Panel scoring (20 marks each): customer and problem; service or farm plan and legal route (including licences and land); money (start-up, prices, break-even, forecast); safety, child-labour and environmental rules; clarity and answers to questions. Competent: at least 60 of 100 with no zero in the safety and rules mark (author's rule).

Check yourself

1. What is the formula for closing cash in a forecast?
2. Name two things a written job contract should state.
3. Name two ethics lines you will never cross.

1. How many cocoa trees are there per hectare at 3 m by 3 m spacing?
2. What do you do if you see a tree with swellings and red vein banding?
3. What is the minimum size of a heap for heap fermentation and about how long does it last?
4. On a 300-bean cut test, how many mouldy beans does Grade 1 allow?
5. What is the 2026/27 official price per 64 kg bag?
6. By what date must medium and large operators comply with the EUDR, and by what date micro and small operators?
7. Which work is hazardous for anyone under 18 on a cocoa farm?
8. Name three kinds of records an internal control system keeps.
9. What is the kilo kilo deduction?
10. What does it cost to register a sole-proprietor business name in 2026?
11. What is the difference between mark-up and margin?
12. A farmer sells 10 bags at the official price. What is the revenue, and is it profit?

What this module does not cover: a pesticide-applicator certificate; pesticide, fungicide or fertiliser doses; cutting out CSSVD trees (done through COCOBOD); how to become a licensed buying company; Ghana's land-registration steps; whether cocoa farm income is taxed and under which scheme; current compensation rates under the COCOBOD rehabilitation programme; and soil-testing prices.

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