ABSTRACT
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.), generally known to have originated from Central and South America, is an important agricultural export commodity in the world and forms the backbone of the economies of some countries in West Africa, such as Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It is the leading foreign exchange earner and a great source of income for many families in most of the world’s developing countries. In Ghana, cocoa is the second foreign exchange earner and many farmers and their families depend on it for their livelihood (Afoakwa 2010). The World Cocoa Foundation estimates the number of cocoa farmers worldwide currently to be 5-6 million and the number of people who depend upon cocoa for their livelihood, worldwide, 40-50 million. Hence the economic importance of cocoa cannot be overemphasised and current global market value of the annual cocoa crop is US $5.1 billion (Ghana Cocoa Board 2010; World Cocoa Foundation 2010).
