Abstract
This perception mapping exercise elicits and synthesizes the perceptions of the main relevant stakeholder about the drivers, impacts, and challenges of cocoa and oil palm certification in Ghana. Through an institutional analysis, we identify the main stakeholders and elicit their perceptions through 36 expert interviews. Perceptions are rather diverse, reflecting stakeholder position in (and knowledge of) the certification processes for the two commodity crops. Most stakeholders perceive that market-related factors drive standard adoption, and financing-related constraints challenge their wide adoption. There are major trade-offs and power asymmetries in certification processes, manifesting differently, due to variations in the implementation approaches and overall regulations of the two value chains.
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Notes
Premiums are an extra payment to compensate/incentivize cocoa smallholders for ensuring sustainable cocoa production. The Ghana Cocoa Board sets the price for both conventional and certified cocoa beans, with the premiums for certified cocoa paid either directly to farmers (through their farmer group accounts) or through LBCs (Sect. 3.1). The actual modalities of premium payment and use depend on the standard, e.g., use a pre-determined fraction of the premium for direct payment to smallholders, commit premium funds into development projects (e.g., schools, clinics, standpipes), or use premiums to purchase agricultural inputs (pers. comm, TECH2, CERT1).
Some stakeholders perceive this as a form of coercion, considering that out-growers do not have any choice over certification adoption due to their contractual agreements with the large oil palm companies (pers. comm.: GOV2).
GAs have to “implement and document activities to support identified needs and priorities of the community, such as support for local schools or other institutions, environmental education, or collaboration on emergency preparedness” (SAN 2017). Although these initiatives do not only serve the interest of participating farmers, it provides incentive for farmers to adopt certification schemes when they learn of such initiatives from neighboring communities (pers. Comm. TECH1).
The incorporation of shade trees is also part of many certification guidelines as a means of mitigating deforestation rates.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the support of all interviewed stakeholders, with special appreciation to Rosemary Addico (Solidaridad West Africa) and Nana Darko Cobbina (Proforest). We are also grateful to Samuel Avaala Awonnea (Benso Oil Palm Plantation) and Vincent Akomea (Ghana Cocoa Board) for their assistance during data collection. Our appreciation is also extended to Ezekiel Grant and Gabriel Tuffour for reviewing the manuscript for grammatical corrections. The research forms part of the CGIAR programs on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The research was funded through an Asahi Glass Foundation Continuation Grant for Young Researchers and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for the Belmont Forum project FICESSA. EDB was supported by a Monbukagakusho scholarship provided by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT).
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EBD: conceptualization, software, formal analysis, writing—original draft, visualization, data curation, and methodology. RA: supervision, writing—review and editing, visualization, resources, and methodology. AG: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing—review and editing, and resources.
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Dompreh, E.B., Asare, R. & Gasparatos, A. Stakeholder perceptions about the drivers, impacts and barriers of certification in the Ghanaian cocoa and oil palm sectors. Sustain Sci 16, 2101–2122 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-01027-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-01027-5