About Truecoco Ghana

Truecoco Ghana’s mission to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across West Africa. We aim to remove more than 250k MTs of CO2 from the atmosphere, and improve the lives of 30ks farmers across West Africa through the creation of Puro certified virgin biochar.

Founded in 2017, Truecoco Ghana is an agri-processing operation based in the Western Region of Ghana. We connect smallholder farmers from across West Africa to trading partners throughout the world. Our products are responsible sourced high quality commodities, with transparent and value-added supply chains.

Based within 50,000 hectares of coconut farmers, we have identified an opportunity to create a high-functioning circular economy using the agricultural waste from an established farmer network. Our position as an agri-processor in West Africa and extensive experience of working with smallholder farmers, makes us uniquely placed to source agricultural waste from smallholder farmers and produce high quality virgin biochar. 

To ensure that our project is done to the highest integrity and quality, we have partnered with Puro to achieve certification, and are working with a leading dMRV partner to monitor the entire life cycle of the product. 

Truecoco’s project will solve multiple problems that impact actors at every level of the value chain

  • Driving Ghana's biochar & climate impact

    Ghana is Africa’s largest producer of coconuts, >500k MT p.a. The Western Region of Ghana accounts for more than 80% of all production. Post smallholder processing, most coconut husk waste is left to decompose in the field, leading to CO2 emissions being released.

    Due to their high carbon content, coconut husks is an effective biochar. It is able to store nutrients in soils and improve the water retention, decreasing the requirements of inorganic fertiliser.

  • Removing CO2 emissions

    In the fight against climate change, it is essential that carbon removal projects are the forefront. To avoid the worst consequences of climate change humanity must achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050. Carbon reduction projects are not sufficient to meet the global climate targets.

    Truecoco will remove over 250k MTs of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2030 through the creation and application of virgin biochar. For every ton of biochar produce around 2.5 tons of CO2 are removed from the atmosphere.

  • Improving farmer livelihoods

    The average smallholder coconut farmer in Ghana earns an estimated annual return of USD 3 – 6.6k p.a. Annual returns will vary depending upon crop yields and global prices.

    Truecoco's model will provide smallholder farmers with an additional revenue stream by purchasing the waste coconut husk. Furthermore, the biochar will be sold back to farmers, as an organic soil conditioner, at a below market rate, and reduce the required cost of synthetic inputs.

  • Helping companies to reduce their scope 3 emissions

    Leading corporations across the FMCG space, such as Nestle & Barry Callebaut, have aimed to significantly reduce their scope 3 CO2 emission by 2030. Scope 3 emissions are primarily driven by the activities of smallholder farmers.

    Biochar can be utilised to reduce these scope 3 emissions. Through the application of biochar, not only does it remove CO2 from scope 3 emissions, it also improves the quality of soil.