The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has been caught in a web of lies after denying an interview where he stated that it using technology for the production of cocoa doesn’t make economic sense.
Fiifi Boafo, in a recent interview, admitted that with the right technology, one could grow cocoa in any part of the world regardless of the weather condition.
He, however, added that it would not be cost-effective to do so for commercial purposes.
His comments came after news broke that China had cultivated and exported some cocoa beans to Belgium.
“The Island where the cocoa was grown does not support the crop’s cultivation but with technology, one can grow cocoa anywhere but it is expensive. It comes at a cost. The question is what kind of technology is China using for the project? What is the cost if they are doing it for commercial purposes? If they are cultivating the cocoa for commercial purposes, can they bear the cost? If they can’t, then it doesn’t make economic sense. We can plant cocoa up North or in Burkina Faso but that doesn’t make economic sense”.
But his comments outraged some Ghanaians who wondered why he could make such comments.
Mr. Boafo following the lambasts denied ever making these comments.
However, this website has intercepted the said interview in which Mr. Boafo was heard making the comments attributed to him.
He had earlier taken to his social media platform to deny making the claims but after the interview went viral, he deleted the post from his Facebook page.
The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) a few days ago disclosed that South China’s island province of Hainan exported cocoa beans to Belgium for the first time.
The batch of cocoa is reported to have been produced in Xinglong, a township of Hainan with a tropical climate.
“Cocoa is a raw material for making chocolate. With the increasing demand for chocolates, Hainan has been expanding its cocoa planting area and making breakthroughs in technological development”, Hao Zhaoyun, a researcher with CATAS said.
“As Belgium is dubbed ‘kingdom of chocolates,’ exports to the country indicate that our cocoa production standards have been recognized by the international community,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com