From bottles to solar pumps: how Cocoa farmers in Ghana are innovating to beat water stress
CGIAR 28 October 2025
Across Ghana’s cocoa belt, the rhythm of the rains is no longer reliable. Once-predictable wet and dry seasons have given way to longer dry spells, hotter harmattan months, and sudden, intense downpours. For cocoa farmers, this “climate whiplash” is not just an inconvenience; it is a direct threat to their yields, which are projected to decline by 5% in the future compared to the current period, and to their livelihoods. Prolonged water stress causes pods to shrivel, while extreme rainfall fuels outbreaks of black pod disease, making it challenging to dry beans. These extremes are already causing sharp fluctuations in output and record-high cocoa prices, underscoring the urgent need for resilient water management solutions.
Yet on the ground, farmers are not waiting passively for the water stress to affect them. From improvised bottle-based drip systems to locally managed diesel pumps in Borteykrom, they are finding ways to bring water to their cocoa farms. Locally led innovations, such as plastic bottle-based drip, reveal an important truth: the barrier to irrigation is not a lack of willingness but access to affordable and Scalable solutions. This blog explores how farmers are reimagining water management for cocoa under water stress during dry periods, and how organizations like International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are working to turn these small, local experiments into significant, climate-resilient transformations across West Africa.
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