The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) invested nearly a billion cedis last year to rehabilitate aged cocoa farms and those ravaged by swollen shoot diseases to help increase national production in the short- to medium-term.
The amount adds to similar spending in previous years to replace farms attacked by the virus, leading to reduced cocoa production in recent years.
Chief Executive Officer-COCOBOD Joseph Boahen Aidoo said in an interview that the initiative aims to sustain cocoa production and support farmers’ livelihoods. He expressed confidence that the country will produce over 800,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in the upcoming 2024/25 season, which begins in September.
The CEO and his deputy in charge of Finance and Administration, Ray Ankrah, were reacting to media reports that COCOBOD’s administrative expenses rose to GH¢3.4billion last year when cocoa production fell.
Mr. Aidoo said the money was used to fund the cutting down of diseased and aged farms, nurse and plant seedlings as well as maintain rehabilitated farms before handing them over to farmers across the country.
He said this strategic investment in farmers and farms led to the board’s administrative cost increasing to GH¢3.4 billion in 2023.
Mr Aidoo said it was therefore misleading for people to suggest that COCOBOD spent GH¢3.4billion at its head office last year, when a chunk of the funds was used to support cocoa production and the welfare of crop farmers.
Finance angle
The Deputy CEO in charge of Finance and Administration said the misleading report was despite a detailed explanation provided in the board’s audited accounts.
“I think it’s deliberate to cause public disaffection, because our audited accounts and the Auditor General’s report as captured in the 2023 financials show clearly that included in the administrative cost is a GH¢943million expense incurred on our productivity enhancement programmes (PEPs),” he said.
“The GH¢943million was actually used on rehabilitating diseased and moribund farms to sustain the livelihood of affected farmers and increase cocoa production, starting with the 2024/25 season,” Mr. Ankrah added in the interview.
He explained that but for that one-off expenditure, which he said was funded from a loan secured from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the administrative cost actually reduced in 2023.
Sustaining production
A non-curable disease, the swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) reduces yields of cocoa trees before killing them. Data show that a large portion of Ghana’s total cocoa farmlands are either moribund or affected by the disease, partly contributing to reduced production.
COCOBOD’s CEO said people need to understand that rehabilitating cocoa farms was a necessity to sustain the sector and livelihoods of crop farmers.
He said that but for such a drastic yet visionary effort, the country’s cocoa-productive land area would shrink – leading to reduced yields with loss of all the attendant benefits derived from cocoa.
Mr. Aidoo noted that COCOBOD is working tirelessly to revive cocoa production after extreme weather conditions – technically called the El Nino effect – affected the country’s cocoa sector and led to a decline in output.
He said some of the rehabilitated farms will start contributing to national output next season, resulting in increased production.
Inputs
Mr. Aidoo assured farmers of an adequate and timely supply of inputs next season to facilitate farmers’ work for increased production.
He said COCOBOD is keen on making it easier and more comfortable for farmers to produce cocoa, and will therefore invest appropriately to reduce challenges impeding the work.
He mentioned the board’s hand-pollination, pruning and irrigation schemes as some of the efforts used to increase production.
He said these measures were also making cocoa farming more attractive to the youth, leading to more young people joining the venture.
Financial turnaround
On his part, COCOBOD’s Deputy CEO in charge of Finance and Administration said beyond working to raise output, the board is putting in place prudent measures to revive its fortunes – which he said were ravaged by effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said COCOBOD’s return to profitability last year is clear evidence of that commitment.
The board’s audited accounts and Auditor General’s 2023 report on public boards and corporations showed that COCOBOD made a GH¢2.3billion profit last year compared to a GH¢4.2billion loss in 2022.
The deputy CEO is confident that the turnaround will be sustained and improve to help strengthen COCOBOD’s ability to support farmers and the sector.
In concluding, the CEO assured farmers of better policies and programmes next season – in line with government’s commitment to improving farmers’ livelihoods.