The Chinese Cocoa
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja
April 26,
2021
The news
came that the Chinese have sold their first bags of cocoa to
Belgium. And the reaction from our officials has so far been
tepid.
We are
asked not to worry by our experts.
So have government officials who have become onlookers
while they respond to this new threat to the cocoa trade with
observations and reasonings taken verbatim from fictitious
school textbooks.
No
visceral response from any of these officials.
But there must be one.
That the Chinese have moved into an industry that has
been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy for decades must feel
like a slap in the face for the average Ghanaian.
We were
sold on the benevolence of the Chinese system.
But stealing our cocoa seedlings to China is not a caring
act.
This venture into cocoa production must show the Chinese
character as dangerous, exploitative, and uncaring.
Yet,
in the face of this act, our officials show no outrage.
But note this; nations that have no sense of outrage for
the tragic do perish.
As a
people, the Chinese are very much aware of tragedy when it
happens to them; know how to shield themselves from its ills.
But more importantly, they know when to forage for the
good things that others have, and the extent to which they can
go to exploit their innocence; most of the time ruthlessly.
While our
President was busy threatening Switzerland, about withholding
cocoa exports and bragging about the potential for domestic
industrial uses, the Chinese were busy preparing to pull the
cocoa industry rug from under us.
Thus
clandestinely, cocoa seedlings have shown up in China several
years back. The
trees have grown, yielded fruits and the results have shown up
in Belgium; China’s first bags of cocoa beans produced sold.
Back home
in Ghana, hordes of Chinese citizens have settled, engaging in
all kinds of trade and industries.
They are
the kingpins of the Galamsey gold mining system,
that is presently
destroying cocoa plantations, polluting streams and rivers, and
poisoning the soil in Ghana.
Combine
these acts with the new Chinese venture into the cocoa trade and
think whether the deeds are those from the helping hand that was
promised.
An
industrial
giant like China in the cocoa trade
represent
ominous competition. Yet, our officials and
experts are unmoved.
They insist that Chinese cocoa production cannot be a threat.
And they
get very philosophical, yet they have not delved fully into the
study of the Chinese character and how things operate in the
natural world.
The truth is
for some reason these Ghanaian officials would rather not want
the Chinese to hear our righteous anger.
But our
outrage must be expected and expressed.
We are alive, not dead and we should respond when poked
or provoked. The
rest of Africa and the cocoa-producing regions of the world must
back Ghana to make China fear our outrage.
Instead,
the Ghana Cocoa Board is busy tamping the outrage down.
There “is no need to panic... we have to assess what the
Chinese are doing,” they said.
And our
Minister of Food and Agriculture offers a neat assurance, that ”
You cannot substitute the flavor of our cocoa with any cocoa
anywhere in the world. This the country is not ready to
surrender to any country,” he stated.
And from
the Minister of Finance came the assurance that “China growing
cocoa can only help to achieve what isn’t there today… it will
significantly grow Chinese taste for cocoa then Ghana can be a
very big winner.”
The Minister of Agriculture proposed the native “flavor” defense
theory because the Chinese could not cross that final line.
How ridiculous, but wait till after you’ve plumbed
the
depth of our Finance Minister’s response.
Both the
ministers of Agriculture and Finance have underestimated the
Chinese natural ability for marketing, regardless of the
limitations of taste and geography.
All they had to do was to count the number of Chinese
restaurants in Accra alone and they wouldn’t be this deluded.
The Chinese never play games.
If "flavor" is the only barrier to the top, as stated by
our Minister of Agriculture, be certain they already know what
to to do overcome this barrier.
It
may be true that Starbuck is benefitting from coffee sales in
China now. But
caution. Against
China, the gains for adversaries have always been temporary.
Most
Chinese citizen utilize what China produces.
If a Chinese Starbuck comes along tomorrow, the American
Starbuck will be gone.
China
uses market and population size to entrap.
But once it gains a hold on that industry, it is game
over for the foreign operator. Our
Ministry of Finance should wonder how some entrepreneurs from
America have faired in the China sector, since they rushed into
that territoty in the 90s.
African Eye reported with apprehension that, “Although China
currently does not appear in the 45 top cocoa-producing
countries in the world, many experts have opined that its full
entry into the cocoa export space is a potential threat to the
fortunes of the two biggest cocoa-producing countries, Cote
d’Ivoire and Ghana.”
The
Chinese probably took away our best seedlings anyway and bribed
or hired
away our best agricultural hands. Be certain
that their exports will grow at our expense.
Another factor that tilts the advantage in China’s favor is that
they are masters at manipulating technology.
They already appear to be ahead in the cocoa harvesting and
processing stage.
For almost a century, we have depended on crude manpower to
manipulate our drying seasons. The Chinese have come out with a
new technology for cheating
the weather - rolling flat drying platforms for help within a couple of
years.
Where were the minds at the Cocoa Board on technology for all
the time the Chinese were planning and plotting to make
marvelous fools of us?
