Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has announced plans by the government to acquire 200,000 hectares of land for cocoa plantations as part of a major push to revive Ghana’s cocoa industry.
The initiative is also aimed at restoring annual production to one million metric tonnes.
Speaking at the inauguration of a new 11-member Board of Directors for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Forson said the government remains committed to transforming the cocoa sector.
“Cocoa has always been the mainstay of our economy, and that must not change,” he stated. “Unfortunately, massive mismanagement in recent years has led to a worrying downturn in both production and financial stability. It is time to act decisively.”
The minister said the government will roll out measures to address the decline in cocoa production, adding that COCOBOD would acquire vast tracts of land to establish large-scale plantation farms.
These plantations are intended to complement smallholder cocoa farming while boosting national output and creating jobs.
He also underscored the urgent need to rehabilitate disease-ravaged farms, especially in the Western Region, where swollen shoot disease has devastated cocoa trees and disrupted the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.
As a new legal provision requires, both the finance minister and the governor of the Bank of Ghana will now serve on the COCOBOD board. Dr Forson pledged full backing from the Finance Ministry to support the Board’s turnaround strategy. Ghanaian food recipes
The newly inaugurated Board is chaired by Dr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, who pledged to “reset, retool, and reposition COCOBOD as a model institution.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
