Emmanuel Gyan, a journalist with Sunyani-based Sky FM in the Bono region, has been adjudged the 2025 national “Best Young Male Journalist in Cocoa Reporting.”
This was at a training programme in Winneba organized for 20 young reporters under the Sustainable Cocoa Program.
It was funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, the Ghana Cocoa Board and Power Avenue Multimedia.
The training focused on accurate reporting in the cocoa sector and introduced participants to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) which seeks to take full effect on December 30, 2025.
The EUDR project requires that cocoa and other cash crop products exported to the EU markets are traceable, legally produced, under deforestation-free and prohibits the placing of cocoa sourced from lands that have been deforested after December 31, 2025.
Positive impact
Speaking after receiving the award, Mr. Emmanuel Gyan, noted that: “this award means I must do more to drive the positive impact we seek in the cocoa sector.”
Mr. Gyan, who is the Acting News Editor of Sky FM added: “The knowledge acquired had revealed hidden stories, both positive and negative, that need to be highlighted.”
Other awards such as the Best male and female Photographer and Videographer category, and the Best Storyteller categories for Male and female, as well as the Overall Best Young Journalist, Female category were given to deserving participants.
Mr. Francis Mintah, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for GIZ, urged journalists to probe deeper into facts when reporting on cocoa.
He said without a thorough investigation, a reporter risks projecting half-baked information.
The lead Consultant for the workshop, Mr. Edward Oppong Marfo, encouraged participants to apply the knowledge and skills gained for the benefit of society and Ghana at large.
The participants were taken to a trail cocoa farm implementing the traceability framework of the project to observe processes from production to export.
