Sustainable Value Addition in the Global South - A Comparative Case Study of the Cocoa Value Chain in Ghana

The cocoa value chain in Ghana faces various sustainability challenges. Power asymmetries between chocolate manufacturers in the Global North characterise the cocoa sector in the West African country, as farmers in the Global South have to defer to power structures determined by the companies (Fold, 2002). Moreover, the sector faces poverty, high child labour rates, disadvantaged situations for women, and loss of biodiversity and native forests due to deforestation. In recent decades, various public and private efforts have addressed these challenges. However, scholars investigating their actual impact state that the interventions did not substantially improve the situation (Fountain, 2020). The concept of Sustainable Value Addition proposed in the thesis might be a promising means for companies to account for the complex sustainability issues in the Ghanaian cocoa value chain and, hence, to maintain cocoa production in the future. Value addition is an economic concept that has been studied thoroughly.