Ghana records over 1.4m tonnes of cocoa beans in 2020/21 season

The country produced over 1.4million metric tonnes of cocoa beans, beating the one million metric tonnes mark achieved in the 2009/2010 crop season.

Speaking at the 2021 edition of Olam Ghana’s Managers’ Conference, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, attributed the increase in cocoa beans production to policies and programmes implemented by the NPP government.

He noted that COCOBOD had implemented the cocoa cultivation under the irrigation system, hand pollination and rehabilitation of age and diseased-infected farms.

“We have exceeded our production target for the year and the money we took as loan didn’t take us anywhere. Very soon, we will sign the syndication for the next crop season and I must say we have made arrangements to get the banks on board to chart this path,” he revealed at the Olam Ghana cocoa managers conference.

Meanwhile, Mr. Joseph Aidoo also said climate change and COVID-19 have impacted the cocoa industry extensively.

He indicated that cocoa trees need specific weather conditions to enable them to bear healthy cocoa pods, and therefore as soon as the climatic balance is disturbed, cocoa cultivation, livelihoods of cocoa farmers, as well as the quality of chocolate is negatively affected.

Mr. Aidoo charged stakeholders in the industry to lead in the campaign for afforestation, good agricultural practices and adherence to COVID-19 protocols to safeguard the industry.

Ghana together with Ivory Coast control about 70% of the world’s cocoa market.