The European Union (EU) Parliament has approved a one-year postponement for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), with enforcement scheduled to start on December 30, 2025.
Until November 14, 2024, Ghana’s tree crop sector – comprising cocoa, oil palm, cashew, coconut among others – has been anxious over an impending vote by the EU Parliament to postpone or validate a proposed implementation date for the crucial EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
Per earlier proposals, the Regulation was expected to come into force from December 30, 2024 for most companies and organisations which trade with the EU bloc.
The EUDR regulation is expected to critically apply to local companies and organisations placing relevant commodities or products on the EU market.
Trading entities and organisations will need to demonstrate that their products are deforestation-free and not linked to forest degradation or illegal harvesting and trade.
The regulation will affect cocoa, oil palm, cashew, coconut and coffee sectors among others.
Ghana and Ivory Coast are the world’s two largest producers of cocoa, accounting for over half of the global supply, currently at 65 percent – Ivory Coast (45 percent) and Ghana (20 percent).
Production of the cocoa commodity has been linked to heavy suspicions and allegations of deforestation by the EU.
While smallholder associations in Africa and Indonesia say they are supportive and prepared for the December 30 deadline when the regulation is scheduled to go into force, others say they need extra time or increased government support.
With a consensus to delay the Regulation, agricultural and commodity trading companies and exporters in Ghana and across the world have been granted a one-year grace-period till December 2025.
Excitingly for Ghana, the EU maintains that the cocoa sector is much better prepared for the EUDR than other commodity sectors since the country and Ivory Coast prioritised a national approach and have, for a long time, started investing heavily in farm traceability approaches.
However, agriculture sector stakeholders are apprehensive that issues of galamsey, which have intensified in the past few months, may dent Ghana’s quest to make a case when the Regulation begins.
Other countries, including Honduras and others according to reports, have maintained that there are millions of smallholders who are not even aware of the EUDR let alone prepared to comply.
