Research on cocoa livelihoods, land use, farmer welfare and the interface between cocoa farming and mining encroachment.
Cocoa has been the backbone of livelihoods across Ghana's Western North and Ashanti regions for generations — but the sector is under real strain. Ageing farms, volatile prices and the growing cost of inputs already put pressure on farming households. Illegal mining has added another, more corrosive pressure on top: galamsey operations are converting productive cocoa farmland into mining pits, often on the very land families have farmed for decades.
The pull is not always external. Illegal mining can offer a cash return, in weeks, that cocoa cannot match in years — and some farmers and landowners lease out or abandon cocoa land for exactly that reason. What follows is rarely reversible: land stripped and pitted for ore extraction is unlikely to grow cocoa again for a generation, if ever. Illegal mining is reshaping the narrative of cocoa farming in these districts — from a stable, generational livelihood into a sector now competing directly against a faster, more destructive alternative for the same land.
Practical research support for organisations and researchers studying cocoa livelihoods and the mining interface.
Ground-truthed data on cocoa farming households — income, land use, farming practices and welfare — before an intervention or study begins.
Documenting where and how illegal mining is displacing cocoa farmland across the cocoa belt, for institutions tracking the trend.
Introductions to farming communities, chiefs and cocoa-district stakeholders, and fieldwork logistics for students and researchers studying the sector.
Structured data and reporting for cocoa-sector institutions, NGOs and development partners working on farmer welfare and land-use issues.
Whether you're an institution, a student or a development partner, we can help you get grounded, well-informed access to cocoa farming communities.
