Although it wasn’t big news in the United States, President Obama and his family visited Ghana last Saturday, where the President addressed the Ghanaian Parliament and later he and his family visited one of several former “castles” on the Ghanaian coast which were the disembarkment point for captured Africans who were sold into slavery.
President Obama chose Ghana as his first trip to Africa due to the determination of the Ghanaian people to support a democratic form of government. He mentioned “cocoa” in his speech, stating that “oil simply cannot become the new cocoa.” Obama was suggesting that African nations should provide a supportive atmosphere for a variety of businesses, in particular export businesses, to flourish for the economic benefit of its citizens.
I visited Ghana a couple of years ago as part of a “Cocoa Tour to Ghana” organized by the World Cocoa Foundation. The tour was unforgettable. When we landed at the international airport outside of Ghana’s capital, Accra, the importance of cocoa to the country was immediately visible in the artwork on the airport walls.
Traveling in a cocoa producing country can seem like living inside a sauna. Cocoa trees thrive in hot, very humid weather. It doesn’t take long for a westerner to wilt like a stalk of celery.
What many of us consider basic necessities can be hard to come by. We were there in June when electricity, powered by water in Ghana, was scarce prior to the rainy season. Sometimes the lights and the air conditioning would be out for hours. Once, while we waited several hours for an audience with a regional king, several in our party became faint as there was little air, despite open walls on 3 sides.
Despite more than their share of adversity Ghanaians are a very proud people with enthusiasm for the democratic process. In 50 years as an independent state they have held free elections, engineered successful and peaceful transitions of power and relentlessly pursued good governance. They also politely but firmly regularly inform westerners that Ghanaians will decide their own future and what’s best for their people.
Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world and the chocolate and cocoa companies who are our members purchase Ghana’s largest agricultural export crop. They do their best to listen to Ghanaians while working in partnership with governments officials, civil society and cocoa farm communities to secure a better future for those farm families who grow the most essential ingredient in chocolate.
