Drivers and impacts of evolving land access in Ghana’s cocoa landscapes

Context and background The cocoa landscape in Ghana is undergoing evolving trends in land access for cocoa production. While evolving strategies for gaining access to land within different land use settings for agriculture, settlement and industrial plantations are well documented, little is known about drivers of the evolving trends of land access within cocoa landscapes in Ghana and their impacts on actors especially migrants and youth within that landscape. Goal and Objectives: The paper seeks to contribute to understanding of the evolving trends in land access in the Western North Region of Ghana. The objective is to explore the underlying drivers influencing changes in access to land in Western North and their impacts on actors in the cocoa landscape. Methodology: Primary data for this qualitative study was collected through 16 focus group discussions, 8 key informant interviews with officials of state institutions including Ghana Cocoa Board and landowners and one-on-one interview with 293 cocoa farmers on the underlying drivers influencing the evolving trends in land access within the cocoa landscapes and their implications on actors. Results: We found that, the promotion of cocoa production due to value placed on cocoa; frontier expansion and social and family networks leading to influx of migrants into cocoa landscapes have presented continuous demand for lands suitable for cocoa cultivation within the cocoa - forest landscape of Ghana. This context coupled with enlightenment of landowners on laws governing land ownership and tenure, have contributed to the redefinition of strategies employed by natives and migrants for gaining and maintaining cocoa land access; a situation that results in enhanced access to land among some actors, and exclusion of others. The unavailability of unencumbered family lands leading to fragmentation of farm lands into small landholdings for members of landowning families especially the youth results in low productivity with associated implications for livelihoods and cocoa farming investment decision making. Some farmers resort to unapproved lands including protected forests for cultivation of cocoa. With the commencement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) in December 2024, such deforestation-led cocoa products will become unacceptable on the European market. Invariably, issues of cocoa land access hold critical implications for livelihoods, sustainability of cocoa production, economic development and cocoa-led deforestation with its associated trade regulations especially for a major producer country like Ghana. We conclude that, land access for cocoa farming is increasingly assuming a market model, where customary access mechanisms have given way to others that favour the highest bidder, and farmers who are able to respond to land owners’ increasing institutionalization of land ownership security strategies. Our recommendation is that, Government should refrain from the over emphasis of cocoa production and rather promote agricultural diversification to reduce the over concentration on cocoa cultivation and its implication on land scarcity and deforestation. Additionally, there should be education on the implication of commodity-led deforestation especially in the context of the new European Union Deforestation Regulation and ultimately on climate change.