Information minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called for the increase in processing of the country’s cocoa locally.
According to him, Ghanaians must take advantage of this year’s celebration of the National Chocolate Week Celebration while efforts are being made to boost domestic cocoa production. He indicated that one of the ways to do this is to guarantee the light crop for the local producers so that they do not have to buy the main crop for domestic processing, since the main crop is comparatively more expensive.
Mr Nkrumah stated that if government is serious about boosting local production, then it must move quickly to ensure that local processors are able to fully meet their bean needs from the light crop.
“While continuing with efforts to boost domestic production of cocoa, we must take advantage of this year’s celebration to step up efforts to increase processing of cocoa locally.”
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Subsequently, Mr Nkrumah expressed the need for government to use policy instruments to ensure that financing support is provided for domestic processors. The financial sector, he noted, should be incentivized to provide financing for the domestic processors using the cocoa beans as security and escrowing into an account of the off-takers.
He highlighted that the challenge of financing domestic processors will be lightened via this channel.
“Although the incentives offered by the Ghana Free Zones Authority are endearing enough to attract more domestic processors, they aren’t well known. These incentives should be better highlighted by the freezones Authority and COCOBOD to attract more processors to set up in the freezones area and then process.”
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
On the matter of stimulating domestic consumption of cocoa products, the information minister underscored the need to promote more chocolatiers to join the value chain. He emphasized that the more domestic chocolatiers and nuanced products there are on the local market, the better the country’s chances of deepening the local taste and demand.
Mr Nkrumah explained that the “red carpet” of incentives the government would give a foreign direct investor should be rolled out for local chocolatiers as well.
“Secondly, the thirty-five percent tax on butter and liquor (raw materials for chocolatiers) should be re-considered. This will make it less expensive to finance operations. It will also make the final products more affordable on the market. Finally we should support initiatives across Africa to stimulate consumption among schoolchildren. Sectors of our economy making super profits can be encouraged to finance such initiatives which will serve as an investment for the growth of a future market in Africa for our cocoa products.”
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Launch of National Chocolate Week celebration
Speaking at the launch of the National Chocolate Week Celebration, Mr Nkrumah called on stakeholders to implement some of these initiatives as they will be instrumental in giving true impetus to the rhetoric of boosting the cocoa industry in Ghana.
Furthermore, he emphasized that the core purpose of the Chocolate Week Celebration is to promote local consumption of chocolate and other cocoa-based products among others. To this end, he expressed his gratitude to all stakeholders within the cocoa value chain for their respective roles in working to build a robust cocoa economy.
The National Chocolate Day Celebration was instituted in 2005 to coincide with Valentine’s Day which falls on 14th February every year to boost the domestic consumption of Ghana chocolate and other cocoa-based products among others.
What used to be a day celebration, was transformed into a week-long celebration in 2022 due to the numerous benefits the country stands to gain if the cocoa industry is nationally promoted.
The exploits of Ghana in the World Cocoa Industry cannot be underestimated. Ghana’s cocoa cultivation has gone through various stages over the years.
It is estimated that the contribution of cocoa to Ghana’s GDP will rise to $4.1 billion by 2025. Cocoa is the third-largest foreign exchange earner for the country after Gold and Crude Oil. Revenues from the industry has been on an upward trajectory since 2019. It ended 2019 at US$2.29 billion but rose to US$2.34 billion in 2020 before peaking at US$ 2.85 billion in 2021, according to Bank of Ghana data. In effect, the cocoa industry is playing a significant role in stabilizing the local currency.
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