Ghana’s local cocoa processing capacity nears 50 percent of production

Cocoa production in Ghana is expected to reach 800,000 tonnes this season, according to COCOBOD’s forecast. This is significantly higher than the trough of about 700,000 tonnes per annum around the middle of the previous decade but well below the peak production level of one million tonnes achieved a decade and a half ago. The forecast production for the current crop season, if achieved would bear testimony to the prudence of COCOBOD's ongoing strategy of focusing on increasing productivity in the best quality acreages under production rather than trying to increase output everywhere including the least productive third of cocoa farmland under cultivation, which is producing sharply diminishing output. It also evidences the success of the industry facilitator’s mass hand pollination initiative introduced a couple of years ago to supplement its mass pesticide spraying exercise. However while production is increasing, a commensurate increase in actual sales is proving harder ...