Ghana and Ivory Coast have adopted a common framework to protect the cocoa sector and forest reserves in both countries.
The move will now allow the two countries to enact common laws and use workable strategies to improve cocoa yields.
In order to ensure a much better involvement in the international pricing of cocoa, the two Governments, through their respective cocoa institutions, namely the Coffee-Cocoa Board for Côte d’Ivoire, and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), agreed to adopt common policies on the marketing, storage and processing, and promotion of local consumption of cocoa.
Ghana’s Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John Peter Amewu, who spoke to media after the meeting on Monday, said, “the meeting was to agree to a roadmap to a framework of the actions, that the two countries intend to put forward an issue of climate change. We know that this has become very predominant across the world and as neighbours with a common goal, we are more interested in collaborating to achieve the objectives we set.”
“We thought it wise to come together and present a common joint action. Don’t forget that Ghana and Ivory Coast have already had some strategic partnerships at government to government level, which was witnessed just about two weeks ago.”
He noted that “This is in preparation for our deforestation program in terms of degradation which is as a result of illegal small scale mining. This we know is contributing to the reduction in cocoa production. We also want to make sure that we contain and maintain our forest and prepare it for the future generation.”
Cote D’Ivoire remains the world’s leading producer of cocoa, whilst Ghana is second.
In the 2015/2016 crop year, about 1.58 million metric tons of cocoa beans were produced in Côte d’Ivoire.
Ghana on the other hand, bagged only 690,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans for the 2015/2016 crop season, despite a target of 850,000 metric tonnes. It therefore missed its target by 160,000 metric tonnes.
The shortfall was attributed to poor managerial policies of the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), and unfavourable weather conditions.
Figures from Cocobod indicated that, the country’s highest output for cocoa production was 1,024,552 metric tonnes which was recorded in the 2010/2011 crop season.
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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana