The COCOBOD CEO, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, said other cocoa producing countries like Ecuador, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria will continue to increase their production levels, hence the need for Ghana to do same in order not to be left behind.
“Ivory Coast was once upon a time producing 1.5 million metric tonnes. In 2016/2017 they produced 1.8 metric tons. In 2018 they’ve gone to 2 million, and now they are aiming at 2.2 million. Nigeria, Ecuador and the other producing countries are all increasing their production. So Ghana cannot say that we won’t increase production because the world price is falling. We are all flooding the market, and that is a fact Ghana cannot run away from.”
Mr Aidoo was speaking when some National Best Cocoa Farmers paid him a courtesy call.
In the 2017/2018 crop season which ended in September COCOBOD set for itself a target of producing 850,000 metric tons of cocoa.
For the 2018/19 Cocoa Season, COCOBOD has targeted production of 900,000 metric tonnes.
Meanwhile, the company has secured a $1.3 billion dollar syndicated loan facility for cocoa purchases and related activities for the production year.
Mr Aidoo said this increase in the target for next year is in line with COCOBOD’s plan to pursue productivity enhancement programmes to help Ghana reach the one million metric tonne mark in the next few years.
Meanwhile, the International Cocoa Organization has told stakeholders of the possible crisis of overproduction of cocoa on the world market which could see farmers in countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast left with huge cocoa stocks.
