The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has projected that it will cross its target for cocoa beans purchases for the 2016/17 crop season when it receives all returns on purchases by Tuesday, September 19th, 2017.
It comes on the back of what the sector regulator says is the impressive performances recorded in the provisional data of purchases made for the cash crop.
The COCOBOD is hoping to purchase about 850,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans in 2017, after years of decline.
The country’s cocoa beans purchases have been declining since it obtained a record figure of 1,000,000 metric tonnes in 2010.
“We can say that we had a target of 850,000 metric tonnes for the 2016/17 crop year, we have gone past that target but we cannot readily tell the exact purchases for the year so far,” Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Noah Amenyah said.
Citi Business News understands that the main crop season for the 2016/17 crop year ended in June with an estimated 600,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans purchases.
The light crop season also ended Thursday, September 14, 2017.
But the complete report on purchases from the various License Buying Companies (LBCs) is expected to be concluded on Tuesday (September 19th, 2017).
Commenting on the development, the Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Noah Amenyah explained to Citi Business News the fertilizer subsidy program and improved rainfall contributed to the improved performance this time round.
“This year has been very good; from the beginning of the crop year, the rainfall has been very good and that can explain why we had a better yield this time round.”
“We also had the fertilizer subsidy which was aimed at improving productivity at the various cocoa farms. So these have all contributed to the positive gains we are recording this time round,” he explained.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana