Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation and Good Practices

Who it is for. Beginners with no formal certificate, including school leavers, young farmers, women's groups and persons with disabilities. National Proficiency I is the first level of Ghana's TVET framework.

Why cocoa

• Cocoa is sold through a controlled system. COCOBOD fixes the farmgate price for the season, and for 2026/27 it announced GH¢42,400 per tonne and GH¢2,650 per 64 kg bag from 25 September 2026.
• Many farms need rebuilding. COCOBOD says cocoa swollen shoot disease has spread and has run a programme to cut out infected farms and replant them.
• Good practice pays. In a survey quoted in a 2025 thesis, farmers averaged about 328 kg of beans per hectare, while the potential is put at about 1,500 kg per hectare. Those are survey figures, not promises. Better care is how a farmer moves toward the higher figure.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range, the evidence your assessor needs, a practical, homework and a short Check yourself with three questions. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical in the nursery, on a demonstration plot or on a real farm.

Words you will meet. Where a Ghanaian name is known, it is given beside the English word, for example black pod (anonom, asukuo) and capsids (akate). Names differ by region, so ask your extension officer.

Competency standard

Range. Training farm or nursery; hand tools only. Evidence. Safety walk-round checklist; oral questions; logbook.

Main hazards on a cocoa farm

• Cutting tools: cutlass and knives cause deep cuts.
• Falls: ladders and wet ground.
• Snakes and insects: walk with a stick, look before you put your hand into leaves or under pods.
• Heat and tiredness: drink water every hour and rest in the shade; a sick person never works.
• Chemicals: fungicides, insecticides and some weedkillers can poison you through the skin, lungs and mouth.
• Heavy loads: wet pods, buckets of water and sacks of beans.

What to wear

Boots, trousers, sleeves and a hat are the standard protective clothing for children on a cocoa farm too, and barefoot work is not accepted. Under the law the employer must provide clean drinking water, a toilet with hand washing, a first-aid box and PPE for hazardous work.

Hand tools: checks and care

1. Before work: check the handle is firm and the blade is not loose or cracked.
2. Carry a cutlass with the blade pointing down and away from your body; never carry it with others walking close behind.
3. Use it with a clear space around you. Cut away from your legs and feet.
4. Sharpen with a file or stone. A blunt cutlass slips and cuts you.
5. After work: wash off soil and sap, dry the blade, put a little oil on it and hang or store it away from children.

Child-labour rules (Ghana)

In Ghana a child is a person under 18. The minimum age for work is 15, children from 13 may do light work, and only people aged 18 and over may do hazardous work.

Rules for hours and loads:

• No farm work at night. The source gives two limits (6 pm and 8 pm); this book teaches the stricter one: no work after 6 pm.
• Light work for a child in school: no more than 2 hours on a school day and 3 hours on a non-school day.
• Carrying: not more than 30% of body weight over about 3 km, and up to 50% over short distances such as 500 m.
• A child must never be kept from school, and breaks of 10 minutes every hour with water are needed.

Pregnant and nursing women must not do pesticide work, and neither should anyone with serious liver, kidney or breathing disease. Where someone cannot safely follow instructions for hazardous work, this is decided carefully with the person and the family.

First aid on the farm

1. Cut: press a clean cloth on it until the bleeding slows, then wash with clean water and cover. Deep cut: go to the clinic.
2. Snakebite: keep the person still and calm, do not cut the bite or tie it tightly, and take them to the nearest clinic at once.
3. Heat illness: move to shade, give small sips of water, cool the body with a wet cloth.
4. Chemical on skin or in eyes: remove clothing, rinse with plenty of clean water, and take the label to the clinic. In an emergency call 112 (not verified for your area; confirm with your clinic and write the clinic number in your logbook).

Check yourself

1. Name two things a young person aged 15 to 17 may do on a cocoa farm.
2. Name two jobs that no one under 18 may do.
3. Why is a blunt cutlass dangerous?

Competency standard

Range. One demonstration plot or farm. Evidence. Site check sheet; farm sketch map; oral questions.

The cocoa tree in plain words

• Cocoa grows best where it is warm (about 18 to 32 °C) and rain falls through most of the year, about 1,100 to 3,000 mm, with a dry season of not more than about 3 months.
• Pods grow straight out of the trunk and branches. A healthy tree gives at least 25 pods a year, which is about 1 kg of dry beans, and a healthy pod holds at least 30 good seeds.
• The tree grows a first fork (the jorquette) at about 1.5 m, after about 2 years, and shoots that grow from low on the trunk are chupons.
• Hybrid cocoa from COCOBOD's seed gardens starts to bear about 2 years after planting out and tolerates black pod, swollen shoot and capsids better than old types.

Choosing a site: 7 checks

1. Climate. Very wet marshy land and very dry land are both poor choices.
2. Slope. Flat or gently sloping land. Avoid steep slopes, rocky ground, hard pans and swamp.
3. Earthworms. Dig a small hole. Earthworms mean good, humus-rich soil.
4. Soil colour. Dark, evenly coloured soil is good. Grey, green or blue spots mean water sits in the soil.
5. Soil depth and type. Deep loamy soil is best. Dig or auger to about 1 m and look at the layers (the sources say 1.2 to 1.5 m for ideal depth).
6. Stones. Less than half of the soil sample should be stones.
7. Distance and the law. Keep away from forest reserves, national parks and stream banks; do not cut forest to start a farm; do not burn the land.

If you are not sure the site is suitable, ask the cocoa extension officer.

Shade: why and how much

Shade protects the tree from heat and wind, helps stop capsids and black pod, and holds moisture.

The sources describe this in different ways (as sunlight or as shade), so remember it as shade: lots of shade when young, much less when old.

Temporary shade is a fast crop that shades the young trees and gives you food while you wait: plantain (borode) is the main one, with cocoyam, cassava and pawpaw. Plantain at 3 m × 3 m gives 1,111 plants per hectare, cassava at 2 m × 2 m gives 2,500. Plantain stems also store water, so a seedling beside plantain can drink in a short dry spell.

Permanent shade is big trees that stay. Leave or plant about 15 to 18 good shade trees per hectare when you clear (the number depends on the sources and the zone: ask your officer, and aim for the shade percentage, not a number). Two trees COCOBOD names as good shade are emire (Terminalia ivorensis) and awiemfuo samina (Albizia coriaria). Some trees, such as onyina (Ceiba pentandra), can carry the swollen shoot virus, so ask before you keep or plant any big tree. Sources disagree on whether some timber trees are good shade for the Western Region; not verified, so ask the extension officer.

Timing. Plant temporary and permanent shade about a year before the cocoa. If you are short of time, plant the food crops about 3 months before the cocoa.

Planting plantain suckers for shade

1. Choose healthy suckers. Cut away rotten parts with a machete.
2. Hot-water treatment, if your officer advises it: dip the sucker in boiling water for 30 seconds only; longer destroys it. Boiling water burns badly, so a trained adult does this with gloves and a long handle.
3. Dig a hole about 20 cm × 20 cm; put the first 10 cm of topsoil at the bottom, set the sucker, cover with the rest.
4. Space the plantain 3 m × 3 m and plant the cocoa seedling about 1.5 m from the plantain.

Check yourself

1. How much shade does young cocoa need?
2. Name two things you look for to judge soil.
3. Why plant plantain with young cocoa?

Competency standard

Range. One nursery of at least 20 bags. Evidence. Nursery record; observation; seedlings.

Where the seeds come from

• Hybrid cocoa pods for planting must come from COCOBOD's Seed Production Division gardens, where the flowers are hand-pollinated. Pods from ordinary farm trees are not planting material.
• COCOBOD raises hybrid seedlings at more than 380 nursery sites and gives them free of charge, mostly May to July. Ask your COCOBOD district office how to register. The manual lists Western Region seed gardens at Achechere, Saamang and Buako, but whether they are open to the public now is not verified.
• Hybrid pods are usually ready from September to January, so nursery work starts in November and December, and seedlings are 3 to 6 months old when planted out in May to July.
• Do not store pods more than about 6 days before use. Do not sow a bean that has already germinated.

Choosing the nursery site

Tools and materials

Soil is getting scarce. COCOBOD has tested other growing media and uses cocopeat and reusable containers in its own nurseries, but a small farmer will normally use topsoil with sand and compost.

Step by step: fill, sow, care

A. Prepare the bags (about a week before sowing)

1. Mix the soil: mostly topsoil, with some river sand and compost. Sieve it. (Mix by volume, for example 3 parts topsoil, 1 part sand, 1 part compost; this is an example, adjust to your soil.)
2. Punch drainage holes in the bags if they have none.
3. Fill every bag to the brim, tapping it so the soil settles.
4. Stand the bags upright in blocks 10 bags wide and up to 100 long, leaving paths 45 to 60 cm wide for watering and weeding.

B. Sow

5. Water the filled bags the day before so the soil is moist.
6. Choose fresh beans from a hybrid pod. Sow them fresh; do not use beans that have already sprouted or dried out. Ask your officer how to handle the pulp.
7. Sow one bean per bag, about 2 cm deep. The sources disagree on which end goes up, so lay the bean flat at the same depth, which is the method COCOBOD suggests when you are unsure.
8. Cover the bean, firm the soil lightly and label the block with the date and source of the pods.

C. Daily care

9. After germination, water every other day, morning or evening, with a fine rose. In the rains water only when the soil is dry. Too much water causes damping-off, where seedlings rot at the base.
10. Hand weed the bags.
11. Check each week for insects and leaf spots. Report anything unusual to the officer. Chemicals are for trained adults and only COCOBOD-approved products; never use a herbicide sprayer for fungicide or insecticide.
12. Fertiliser only if the soil is poor and the officer advises it, about one month after germination, a few granules, kept off the leaves, and then water it in.
13. Record what you do every day.

D. Water planning

A nursery of 2,500 seedlings in a 9 m × 9 m area needs about 450 litres of water a day when it does not rain, which is 0.18 litre per seedling. Find your water source first.

Hardening off and moving to the field

1. About one month before planting, begin to reduce shade slowly.
2. In the last week, remove shade completely and give less water; no fertiliser.
3. Water well the day before moving.
4. Carry seedlings upright in the bag; do not squeeze or stack them high on a truck.
5. Seedlings moved with good care survive in 90–100% of cases.

Common mistakes and fixes

Check yourself

1. What size nursery bag is used for seedlings kept up to six months?
2. Why do you reduce shade before planting out?
3. Why must pods for planting come from COCOBOD's seed gardens?

Competency standard

Range. One demonstration plot of at least 30 m × 30 m; field photographs. Evidence. Pegged plot; planted seedlings; oral questions.

The farm calendar (Western Region, plan only)

Clearing the land without burning

1. Cut the undergrowth at the start of the dry season.
2. Fell big trees that are swollen-shoot hosts or unwanted. Keep the good shade trees you marked on your map. Check the rules for timber trees first.
3. Do not burn the whole field. Burning wastes humus, exposes the soil and brings grass weeds. Let cuttings rot, or burn only small heaps if you must.
4. If the land has been farmed before, it will need compost or manure in the planting hole.

Lining and pegging at 3 m × 3 m

Tools: pegs (cut sticks), rope or twine, a 3 m measuring stick or tape, cutlass, a hoe. Pegs and rope: farm, hardware shop or market; price not verified.

1. Choose a starting point and put in a peg.
2. Stretch a rope about 100 m along the longest edge to make a base line.
3. Mark every 3 m and put a peg at each mark.
4. At right angles, repeat from the first peg, then fill in the whole plot row by row.
5. Check the rows by sighting down them. Straight rows make weeding and spraying easier.

At 3 m × 3 m you plant 1,111 trees per hectare. (Some programmes may use a closer spacing for grafted trees; follow your officer.)

Holing

1. Dig holes at the pegs at least 2 weeks before planting so the soil settles.
2. Make each hole big enough for the soil ball in the bag.
3. Put topsoil on one side and the lower soil on the other. A few days before planting, put the topsoil back at the bottom and the poor soil on top. Mix in compost if you have it.

Planting the seedling

1. Water the seedlings well the day before.
2. Plant in the middle of the rains, on a cloudy day if you can.
3. Remove the polybag. Never bury it.
4. Set the soil ball in the hole so the top of the soil is level with the ground, as it was in the nursery.
5. Fill with soil, firm gently around it, and do not heap soil against the stem; it rots.
6. Plant about 1.5 m from the plantain.
7. Mulch with dry plant material near the end of the rains (about October). In termite areas, ask your officer first.
8. Replace dead seedlings in the first two years. After the third year new seedlings will be shaded out.

Care in the first three years

• Weed about 3 to 4 times a year in a young farm (for example March, May–June, August, November) and cut weeds when they are 30 to 45 cm tall.
• Remove chupons at every weeding.
• Termites attack young trees in dry months. Look for earth tunnels on the stem and wilting; tell your officer.
• Fertiliser. A tree 6 to 18 months old may be given a small amount of sulphate of ammonia, 70 g (about a matchbox full), as a ring on the ground away from the stem at the start of the rains, if your officer advises it. Never put it on the stem or leaves.

Mistakes and fixes in planting

Replanting and rehabilitation

Replanting means starting again on an old farm that no longer pays. Four common ways, from the IITA training guide:

A tree that gives under about 10 pods a year is a candidate for replacing. Count pods on a few trees before you decide. Grafting and budding need trained people; do not try it on your own. Your officer helps you choose.

Cocoa swollen shoot (CSSVD): recognise and report

Swollen shoot is a virus disease spread by small insects called mealybugs. It can also live in several shade trees.

Signs, in the order you may see them:

1. Red bands along the veins of young leaves.
2. Yellow patches, mosaic or fern patterns on older leaves.
3. Swellings on the young stems, chupons and sometimes roots.
4. Tips dying back, then the whole tree dying.

Other things, such as drought or poor soil, can look like it. Do not decide alone.

What to do:

1. Mark the tree with a ribbon and note where it is on your map.
2. Report it to your cocoa extension officer at the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED). Do not cut it or the neighbours before you are told.
3. Do not sell stems, cuttings or plants from the suspect trees.
4. If COCOBOD's team cuts trees, the cut trees stay on the farm to return nutrients; do not sell them as firewood.

There is no chemical cure. The only answer is to cut out the infected trees and replant.

What COCOBOD does. Since September 2020, farms with swollen shoot have been cut, replanted and managed for two years before being handed back to the farmer. Reports say some 40,000 ha were handed back in 2024 and about 27,000 ha were left unfinished for lack of money, and COCOBOD said it would resume (the article date is not shown). Compensation rates and how to apply today could not be confirmed. Ask your CHED district officer. Plan for lost income during the programme and keep your farm and ID papers safe.

Check yourself

1. How far in advance do you dig planting holes?
2. Name two signs of swollen shoot.
3. Who do you tell if you see swollen shoot signs?

Competency standard

Range. One farm or plot; spraying is theory and demonstration only. Evidence. Weeding and pruning observed; oral questions; label-reading exercise.

Weeding

1. Hand weed with a cutlass or hoe. In a young farm weed 3–4 times a year; in a mature farm about twice a year.
2. Cut weeds close to the ground when they are 30 to 45 cm tall.
3. Pull out climbers, which choke the young trees.
4. Take noxious weeds like Imperata grass and Chromolaena out of the field because they grow back.
5. Do not cut into the cocoa stem; a cut lets disease in.
6. Heavy weedkillers are discouraged. COCOBOD has warned against unapproved weedkillers, which can contaminate beans and make buyers reject them. Hand weeding is the safe way to learn.

Pruning young cocoa

Tools: secateurs (for thin shoots), a pruning saw, a long-handled pruner; gloves. Buy from agro-input shops or hardware shops; price not verified.

1. At every weeding, cut off chupons (low shoots) at the base.
2. The first fork should form at about 1.5 m. If low branches make a bush under 1 m, cut them so the first branching is higher.
3. If more than 2 shoots grow from the fork, leave 2 and cut the middle ones.
4. Prune just before the rains (April or May), cutting at a slant so water runs off.
5. Clean secateurs between trees if you saw a diseased one.
6. Take cut material out of the field if it is diseased; leave clean prunings as mulch.

For mature trees, pruning removes sick branches, crossing branches and mistletoe, and is done by trained people. Ladder work is hazardous and never for under-18s.

Fertiliser awareness

• Fertiliser works only when the other jobs are done: good plants, weeding, disease control, shade right, and swollen shoot trees removed.
• It is usually applied once a year at the start of the main rains (April or May).
• Use only approved fertilisers through COCOBOD or approved dealers. Cheap unapproved products may carry cadmium, which can harm the farmer and the beans.
• In 2026 COCOBOD started free fertiliser distribution from May, with collection points in districts. Ask your officer if your farm is covered.
• Store fertiliser dry and locked; keep it off the leaves; never let children apply it.
• Compost from cocoa husks, leaves, grass and manure is a free way to feed the soil. Good compost is brown-black and smells of earth; compost that is not finished can harm plants.

The main pests and diseases

Black pod is the most important. It is caused by fungus-like organisms spread by rain splash, ants, rats and dirty hands or tools. A serious attack can wipe out a season's crop.

Capsids: the officer counts them to decide on spraying (the rule in COCOBOD's manual is an average of 6 mirids per 10 trees), so your job is to look and tell.

Mistletoe seeds are spread by birds; the shade tree gets it first, so check shade trees too. Children must never climb ladders to cut it.

When spraying is needed

The sources differ on exact timing:

• COCOBOD's manual says spray fungicide about every 3–4 weeks, starting when pods are on the tree and the rain is continuous.
• COCOBOD's free CODAPEC gangs do about three rounds against black pod from June to October, and two rounds against capsids, in April–May and August–September.
• Another manual gives a monthly calendar from May to December.

So the rule to learn is: spray only what your extension officer and the label say, and use the free CODAPEC gangs where they cover your farm. In 2026 COCOBOD announced more sprayers and a first round from April. Whether your area is covered is not verified; ask.

Chemical safety rules

1. Only use a product that is registered with the EPA (the law says no one may sell or use a pesticide in Ghana unless it is registered) and approved for cocoa by COCOBOD. These are two lists, and a product can be on one but not the other. Many input shops in cocoa areas have been found without approved products, so buy only from a licensed dealer and keep the receipt.
2. Read the label first: the product name, what it is for, how much to use, the waiting time before harvest and first aid. Do not use a cocoa product on other crops.
3. Wear full PPE: gloves, hat, overalls (long sleeves and trousers), boots, goggles, mask or respirator.
4. Check the sprayer for leaks. Never use a sprayer that has had weedkiller to spray fungicide or insecticide, or the other way round.
5. Mix outdoors, half fill the tank with clean water, add the measured product, top up and shake. Never stir with your hand, suck with your mouth or blow a blocked nozzle.
6. Do not eat, drink or smoke while spraying. Spray with the wind behind you, early morning or late afternoon.
7. Keep at least 10 m from houses, canteens and warehouses unless there is a barrier, and keep children away.
8. After: wash, change clothes, put up a warning sign with the date and the days before harvest.
9. Containers: rinse three times, puncture, store safely and hand over as the extension officer directs. Never burn them, never reuse for water or food. The manual contradicts itself on burying, so do not bury.
10. Store chemicals locked, away from food, bedrooms and medicines.

Who must NOT spray: anyone under 18, pregnant or nursing women, and anyone with serious liver, kidney or breathing disease. People with chronic breathing problems should choose other farm tasks. Free spray gangs are trained and given PPE, and COCOBOD bought 89,721 sets of PPE in 2026.

Check yourself

1. Name the two lists a pesticide should be on before you use it on cocoa.
2. Who must not spray pesticides?
3. Name two cultural ways of reducing black pod.

Competency standard

Range. One batch from pod to dry bean; sample records. Evidence. Batch record; dry beans; cut-test results.

Harvest

There are two crops a year: the main crop from October to March and the mid-crop from May to August.

1. Harvest ripe pods (yellow or orange) about every 2 to 4 weeks (the sources give 2–3 and 3–4 weeks; do not let ripe or diseased pods stay on the tree longer than a month).
2. Cut the stalk close to the pod with a sharp knife or cutlass, without damaging the flower cushion on the trunk (the cushion makes next year's pods).
3. Use a long-handled harvesting knife for high pods. Keep your feet clear; do not stand under the pod.
4. Take diseased and rat-damaged pods separately and keep them out of the good heap.
5. Do not harvest green pods; do not leave ripe pods so long that the beans sprout inside.
6. Carry pods to a clean, shaded breaking place.

Pod breaking

1. Break pods within 2–3 days; never keep them more than about 6 days.
2. Use a wooden club or hit the pod on a hard wooden block. A cutlass cuts beans; chipped beans let mould in.
3. Scoop the beans out with your hands. Remove the placenta (the tough core), shells and any black, sprouted or damaged beans.
4. Start the fermentation the same day.
5. Do not leave husks in heaps; they carry black pod. Compost them or spread them away from the trees.

Fermentation: the heap method, step by step

Why: the sweet white pulp ferments, heat and acid form inside the bean, and this makes the chocolate flavour. Without it the beans are poor.

You need: fresh plantain or banana leaves, a shaded flat place, a covering of leaves held with small logs, a notebook.

1. Spread fresh leaves on the ground in a circle, in the shade.
2. Heap the wet beans on the leaves. Aim for at least 300 kg of wet beans; a smaller heap loses heat.
3. Cover with more leaves, held down with small logs.
4. After 2 days (day 2) turn the heap, mixing top to bottom.
5. Turn again after another 2 days (day 4).
6. Leave 2 more days. Total about 6 days (5 to 7 is accepted).
7. Signs: the pulp has drained away, the heap is hot at the middle and smells of vinegar; at the end the smell changes.

If you have less than 300 kg: ask your officer about baskets (10–150 kg, lined with plantain leaves and covered), boxes or trays, or join a group and ferment together.

Mistakes: too short gives slaty (grey) and violet beans; too long gives hammy smell. Cold harmattan nights slow fermentation, so cover well.

Drying

1. Start drying on the day the fermentation ends.
2. Spread the beans thinly on raised mats or trays. Never dry on the bare ground, the road or asphalt: dirt, lead and fuel can contaminate the beans.
3. Stir often and pick out flat, black, sprouted and mouldy beans, stones and husk.
4. Cover in the evening and in rain; uncover early in the morning.
5. Dry for at least 7 days. The beans are dry when they crackle when pressed in your fist and the shell cracks when crushed.
6. No fire under or near the beans; smoke spoils the flavour.
7. A simple solar dryer (a wooden frame with clear plastic) speeds drying, but do not heat above 65 °C or dry too fast. In one Ghana study, solar-dried beans reached about 6% moisture in 3 days compared with 6 days for open sun.
8. Buyers want 7.5% moisture or less; above that, mould can grow.

Weight guide: 3 kg of fresh beans give about 1 kg of dry beans.

Quality check and grade

Merchantable cocoa is well fermented, dry, free of smoke smell, mould, broken beans, shell and foreign matter. Common faults:

The cut test. Cut 300 beans lengthwise and count the faults. For Grade 1 the limits are mouldy beans at most 3%, slaty at most 3%, and insect-damaged, sprouted and flat beans together at most 3%. For Grade 2 the limits are 4%, 8% and 6%. Worse is substandard.

Storing and selling

• Store only fully dry beans (7.5% or less) in clean jute bags on a raised board, in a dry, rain-proof, airy room, away from fuel, kitchens and smoke. Do not store other goods with cocoa and do not keep it for months.
• Sell to a licensed buying company (LBC) through its purchasing clerk. COCOBOD supplies the official jute bags to LBCs. The standard bag weight is 64 kg.
• The weighing scale must be one certified by the Ghana Standards Authority. Scale tampering is illegal. If you think the scale or weight is wrong, report it to COCOBOD or the police. Many tampering reports are from earlier years; whether it is still common is not verified.
• The producer price is set by COCOBOD: GH¢42,400 per tonne and GH¢2,650 per 64 kg bag from 25 September 2026. The farmer share is at least 70% of the realised export value. Ask the clerk to show the price list.
• Get a receipt. LBCs have had payment delays, so write down the company, clerk, weight and date, and if you are not paid, contact the LBC you sold to.
• Selling outside the licensed system is unlawful and is a target of the 2026 reforms.
• Bags are tracked by barcodes under COCOBOD's traceability system, so keep your receipts and do not mix beans from other farms.
• The European Union's deforestation rule is due to apply to cocoa from 30 December 2026 for big firms and 30 June 2027 for small ones. It means beans must not come from land cleared of forest after 31 December 2020, and the plot should be on a map. No price premium has been verified.

Simple farm records

Keep a notebook for each year. Records help you plan, show where money goes and are needed for credit and certification.

Check yourself

1. How long should a good heap be fermented, and how often do you turn it?
2. Where should you never dry cocoa?
3. What moisture level will buyers accept?

Competency standard

Range. The trainee's own plan. Evidence. Costing sheet; one-page plan; oral questions.

Location: what to look for

In the Akwidaa area (Ahanta West, Western Region), swollen shoot is reported as common in the Western and Eastern regions. The local rainfall pattern for your farm and the COCOBOD district office for Ahanta West were not found; ask the Western South regional manager.

Galamsey (illegal mining) risk. Mining has destroyed cocoa land in several regions. A COCOBOD regional manager called it the biggest challenge to the industry in 2026. Keep your documents, keep the boundary clear, tell the traditional authority and the district assembly early, and report illegal mining to the police or authorities rather than facing miners yourself. Do not lease or sell your land to miners. The exact legal steps are not verified.

Small business ideas around cocoa

1. Food crops under young cocoa: plantain, cassava, cocoyam for food and income while the trees grow.
2. A small nursery for shade trees and plantain suckers. COCOBOD supplies hybrid cocoa seedlings free, so do not plan to sell hybrid cocoa seedlings.
3. Hired services: weeding, pruning (with training), carrying pods, bean sorting, and, once trained, joining a spray gang. A CODAPEC spray team member's monthly allowance was raised to GH¢700 in 2026. How to be selected: not verified.
4. Post-harvest service: a shaded fermenting place and raised drying trays for a group, with a cut test for quality.
5. Compost from cocoa pod husks and leaves, for your own farm and for sale. Potash for soap and animal feed are named uses of husks; processing and safety for these are not verified.
6. Other farm ventures that COCOBOD lists: bees, grasscutter, mushrooms, chilli, snails. See the Hub's other manuals.

Marketing yourself and your cocoa

• Sell good beans: dry (7.5% or less), clean and well fermented, to a licensed buyer, with a receipt.
• Join a group. Groups can buy inputs together, share a fermenting place and apply for certification, but need honest records and accountable leaders. Cooperative registration steps were not verified; ask the Department of Co-operatives.
• Show your skills. A clean, labelled nursery, a farm notebook and a reference from the extension officer help you get work with farmers.
• Keep your documents: farm map, farmer identity card (the Cocoa Management System registers farmers; whether the card is needed to sell today is not verified), and sales receipts.
• Be honest. Never put stones or wet beans in the bag; it is cheating and brings a bad name.

Women and persons with disabilities

Women already do many cocoa jobs, including planting, weeding, harvesting, fermenting, drying and sorting, though often as "helpers", and they often have less access to land, inputs, training and money. Pregnant and nursing women must not do pesticide work.

Persons with disabilities in Ghana say they want farm work but are blocked by lack of land, money, tools and by attitudes; visits and tools from extension officers help. Ideas for adapting farming, including wide paths, lighter tools, seated work and helpers, come from outside Ghana.

The table below is the author's suggestion, not from a source. Match tasks to the person, decide together, and adjust the work, not the person.

Check yourself

1. Name two small businesses linked to a cocoa farm.
2. Why should you not plan to sell hybrid cocoa seedlings?
3. Name one task for a wheelchair user in a cocoa nursery.

1. Name two jobs that no one under 18 may do on a cocoa farm.
2. What percentage of shade does young cocoa need?
3. Why can you not use pods from an ordinary farm tree to raise planting seedlings?
4. When do you start to harden off seedlings before planting out?
5. At what spacing, and how many trees per hectare, do you plant hybrid cocoa?
6. Name two signs of swollen shoot and say who you report it to.
7. Name the two lists a pesticide must be on before use on cocoa.
8. Who must never spray pesticides?
9. How often should ripe pods be harvested?
10. About how many days are cocoa beans fermented in a heap, and when is the heap turned?
11. What moisture level must dry beans reach, and where must you never dry them?
12. What is the official price per 64 kg bag in 2026/27, and what should you ask for when you sell?

Best next reads: COCOBOD's Manual for Cocoa Extension in Ghana (open access); the IITA guide on planting and replanting cocoa; the Hub's Composting, Mushroom Production and Money Skills manuals.

What this module does not cover: spray doses and calibration, yield-improving fertiliser plans, pruning of mature trees, grafting, certification and business registration (see Levels 2 and 3).

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