While I realize it's not precisely the same, this reminds me of Qatar's decision a while back to stop just exporting oil, and instead start doing the refining,

While I realize it's not precisely the same, this reminds me of Qatar's decision a while back to stop just exporting oil, and instead start doing the refining, etc. themselves. Basically working their way up the production chain. Of course, just because it worked for Qatar doesn't guarantee it will work for Ghana, but the strategy makes sense. The main risk will be if their domestic chocolate producers aren't able to pay enough to Ghana's cocoa farmers, and instead of creating a chocolate industry they decimate their cocoa farming sector. Hopefully they have gotten their ducks at least somewhat in a row before they started this.