Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has introduced authorities plan to accumulate 200,000 hectares of land for cocoa plantations as a part of efforts to revive the struggling cocoa sector and restore manufacturing ranges to at least one million metric tonnes.
Talking on the inauguration of a brand new eleven-member Board of Administrators for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), he careworn the pressing want for daring interventions to deal with the sharp decline in cocoa manufacturing, which has fallen from a peak of 1 million metric tonnes to about 500,000 metric tonnes in recent times.
Dr Forson, who now serves on the COCOBOD Board by advantage of a brand new authorized provision mandating the inclusion of the Finance Minister and the Governor of the Financial institution of Ghana, reaffirmed authorities’s dedication to repositioning cocoa because the cornerstone of the nationwide financial system.
“Cocoa has all the time been the mainstay of our financial system, and that should not change,” he mentioned.
“Sadly, huge mismanagement in recent times has led to a worrying downturn in each manufacturing and monetary stability. It’s time to act decisively.”
He disclosed that authorities, working via COCOBOD, would set up plantation farms by buying about 200 hectares of cocoa land to considerably increase manufacturing ranges.
This, he defined, would complement present smallholder farmer operations and guarantee sustainable progress within the sector.
Dr. Forson additionally highlighted the necessity to urgently deal with diseased farms, significantly within the Western Area, which proceed to hamper output and have an effect on the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.
He pledged the Finance Ministry’s unwavering assist for COCOBOD because it embarks on this turnaround agenda.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated board, Dr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, promised to reset, retool, and reposition COCOBOD as a mannequin establishment.
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