The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is confident measures put in place to raise national cocoa production figures will soon translate into increased output to bridge the global cocoa deficit.
The deficit is expected to peak at one million tonnes by 2020, which, if not checked, could cause prices of the beans to skyrocket.
However, with special yield-boosting initiatives such as the free distribution of hybrid cocoa seedlings, luring of youth into cocoa farming and the free distribution of fertilisers and other inputs, COCOBOD, which regulates the country’s cocoa sector, said its estimates showed that Ghana’s annual figures would rise in the next few years and subsequently neutralise the deficit.
The Chief Executive Officer of the board, Dr Stephen K. Opuni, gave the assurance at the 2015 Cocoa Festival at Tafo in the Eastern Region.
He observed that the deficit would be as a result of cocoa consumption by chocolate manufacturers and other cocoa-based institutions surpassing supply.
“The global cocoa consumption is currently growing between two to three per cent per annum. Therefore, Ghana needs to take opportunity to make gains,” Dr Opuni added.
Ghana is currently the second largest cocoa producer.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
