National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sammi Awuku, has urged the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to keep on improving on its efforts to make the country a force to reckon with when it comes to cocoa production.
To him, the world is already developing at a fast pace and will not stop for anyone to catch up. “With technology being introduced into the agricultural sector now, we can see Ghana is doing well and that also informs us that there is competition out there and that competition is real”.
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According to him, he panicked when he heard for the first time China and South Korea had started playing professional football. “I was scared because Ghana started football before them and that was an advantage we had over them. We as Ghana played football for entertainment but they made it into a business and now we have a lot of our nationals playing in these countries. Now, their advantage over Ghana has increased and that is a similar situation we might face with cocoa”, he told Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show.
The politician noted that Ghana has always had an upper hand over many European countries when it came to the production and processing of cocoa. “Once our cocoa was produced on a large, it was not consumed locally but largely by the world market”.
“Now, if the people you used to supply cocoa to over the years start producing their own, then the competition is real; because they have a bigger market than you do. They will eat what they can and eventually export what they cannot eat”.
Although he has no doubt Ghana is a powerhouse when it comes to cocoa production, Sammi Awuku believes there is more room for improvement. “We have seen quite some improvements in Ghana’s cocoa growing capacity with the introduction of mass spraying exercises and fertilizer distribution. “COCOBOD has done well but we want to encourage and tell them there is more room for improvement”.
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Recently, several Chinese news outlets reported that China has exported a batch of 500 kilograms of cocoa beans worth about $3,600 to Belgium.
For years, the Chinese have researched into 500 cocoa germplasm resources from 28 countries, including Ghana.
They cultivated their first and new cocoa variety known as Reyin 4, which has been patented. Other cocoa varieties with code names, such as ZYP6-8 and Xiangke 1, have been developed and evaluated by international organisations and found to be of high quality with unique flavour. China’s cocoa is grown in the Hainan Province located in the South China Sea.
By: Joel Sanco
