Rev John Winfred, Founder and Senior Pastor of Lovereign Bible Church, has said it is a lie that Tetteh Quarshie brought cocoa to Ghana.
According to the man of God Porfessor Akosua Adoma Perbi and Professor K.B Dickson detailed that Tetteh Quarshie was not the first person to bring cocoa to Ghana.
Pastor John Winfred detailed that the Basel Missionaries, who were Presbyterians from Swizertland were the first to bring cocoa to the Gold Coast.
Speaking to his Church congregation, Pastor John Winfred narrated, “All of us have been told that Tetteh Quarshie is the one who brought cocoa; it is a lie. It is the Basel Missionaries, who were Presbyterians from Swizertland who were the first to bring cocoa to the Gold Coast. The cocoa seed they were the first to bring it.
We refer to Tetteh Quarshie, but we do not refer to the Basel Missionaries. But I am quoting two Professors, Akosua Adoma Perbi and Professor K.B Dickson, former Pro Vice Chancellor of UCC, who also wrote about the economic development of Ghana and the various factors that contributed to Ghana’s economic development”.
Some Ghanaians reacting to the man of God’s remarks stated, “Based on the historical fact given, Tetteh may not be the one who first brought Cocoa to Ghana, but he’s the one who made it “successful’. So saying the Tetteh Quarshie legend is false is not entirely correct. The missionaries failed with theirs per the narrative”.
Another added, “Yes. Very accurate!!! Many don’t know that while Tetteh Quarshie is the hero who made cocoa popular, the Basel Missionaries were actually the ones who laid the groundwork decades earlier. As early as 1858, they brought cocoa seeds from the West Indies to Akropong and started experimental farms to see if the crop could survive in Ghana.
They didn’t just plant seeds; they taught local farmers the technical skills of how to grow, dry, and ferment the beans so they could be sold. By setting up the Basel Mission Trading Company, they also created a way for farmers to actually export their harvest to Europe. So, while Quarshie gets the credit for the “cocoa boom,” the Basel Missionaries provided the science, the training, and the market that proved cocoa could actually work in Ghana”.
In related news, Professor Akosua Adoma Perbi, a history professor at the University of Ghana (UG), has said it was not Tetteh Quarshie who brought the famous cash-crop cocoa to Ghana.
According to her, cocoa was originally brought to Ghana from Brazil by a Basel Missionary called Reverend Hass.
She revealed that although cocoa was brought by the missionaries, Ghanaians became aware of it when Tetteh Quarshie brought in his from Fernando Po.
In a graphic news report, Professor Akosua Adoma Perbi stated, “It was between 1851 and the 1880s that Rev. Haas, Mole and other missionaries cultivated cocoa farms in Ghana”.
Tetteh Quarshie from Akuapim Mampong, is the man widely celebrated in Ghana by many as the one who brought cocoa seedlings to Ghana from Fernando Po, now Equitorial Guinea”.
He is said to have started the first cocoa farm at Akuapim Mampong in the Eastern Region, thus leading to the spread of the cash crop in Ghana”.
“Speaking at the sixth edition of Achimota School’s 90th anniversary education forum, the history professor said available records indicated that Dutch missionaries planted cocoa in the coastal areas of the then Gold Coast as early as 1815, whilst in 1857, Basel missionaries also planted cocoa at Aburi”.
“Prof Perbi, however, acknowledged the key role Tetteh Quarshie played in popularising the cultivation of the cash crop in the country.
“She said that although cocoa was brought by the missionaries, many Ghanaians became aware of it when Tetteh Quarshie brought in his pods from Fernando Po.
Prof. Perbi specialises in indigenous slavery in Ghana, women and slavery, slave camps and slave sites in Ghana”, the report stated.
Watch the video below:
@lovereignbiblechurch Let’s set the record straight. Was cocoa really brought to Ghana by Tetteh Quarshie? 🍫 Watch till the end for the historical facts.
♬ original sound – Lovereign Bible Church