About the project
In Ghana, cocoa is the leading export earning commodity, accounting for nearly 30% total export earnings.
According to African Development Bank more than 315,000 hectares of Ghana’s 1.9 million hectares of cocoa farms have Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) and need to be fell and rehabilitated.
Cocoa Farmers usually clear tropical forests to plant new cocoa trees instead of reusing the same land. Experts estimate 60% of the countries illegal deforestation is related to cocoa farming.
Using pyrolysis to turn cocoa trees into biochar, we are collaborating with Ghana’s Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to provide 100k hectares of diseased cocoa trees in Western North Region of Ghana ensuring feedstock sustainability. This can be upped to 200k hectares area as we scale up the project in other regions.
Biochar will then be re-distributed through COCOBOD back to the small holder farmers of cocoa in Ghana subsidized as well as exported to international markets.