Economy · Cocoa trade · ArchiveGhana Criminalizes Cocoa Land Sales: 20 Years Prison to Halt Production PlungeAired August 5, 2026 at 12:57 PM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00Selling or repurposing cocoa growing0:01land in Ghana can now land you in prison0:04for two decades. Parliament has [music]0:05passed a law making it a crime0:07punishable by up to 20 years in a0:09desperate attempt [music] to stop a near0:1140% collapse in the country's most vital0:13crop. Just 4 to 5 years ago Ghana0:16produced [music] more than a million0:17metric tons of cocoa per year. That0:19number has now dropped below 600,000,0:21[music]0:22a decline that directly threatens the0:23livelihoods of up to a million Ghanaian0:25cocoa [music] farmers. The legislation0:27carries a blunt ultimatum. Keep your0:29land in cocoa and the state must pay you0:31a fair share of the world price, 70%0:34[music] written into law. But only0:35months ago in January that same0:37government slashed farmer payouts by0:39nearly a third. For many the promise0:41[music] and the prison term ring hollow0:42against the cash now being offered by0:44illegal gold miners. With global gold0:46prices [music] at historic highs,0:48illegal miners are paying farmers cash0:50under the table to lease their land,0:51[music]0:52the very crime Parliament now threatens0:54with 20 years behind bars. The law is on0:56the books, but it has never been0:57enforced. [music] Whether the fear of0:59prison can compete with the price of1:00gold is a question Ghana's Parliament1:02has left unanswered.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗