The Board Chairman of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has urged strengthened collaboration between COCOBOD and Regional Security Councils to curb the growing smuggling of cocoa beans and farm inputs across Ghana’s borders.
Speaking during a meeting with the Western Regional Minister in Sekondi as part of a three-day working tour, Mr Ampofo said cocoa smuggling remained a major concern and continued to undermine national efforts to support farmers and protect the industry.
He noted that the illicit activity had expanded beyond cocoa beans to include farm inputs and other essential resources supplied to farmers at no cost.
He disclosed that COCOBOD had distributed agricultural inputs valued at 5.8 million dollars to farmers this year, stressing that such investments were threatened when farmers diverted inputs or bypassed legal channels to sell their cocoa to smugglers.
Mr Ampofo added that limited coordination between COCOBOD and regional authorities was hampering monitoring efforts, and in some cases, regional ministers were not even familiar with COCOBOD’s regional offices.
He said stronger partnerships would enable security agencies to better understand smuggling networks, track input distribution, and establish more effective monitoring systems to combat illicit activities across the regions.
Dr James Kofi Kutsoati, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations at COCOBOD, announced ongoing reforms to the cocoa input distribution system.
He said the new approach would transform cooperative groups into a taskforce model to strengthen disease and pest control on farms.
Western Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Nelson, welcomed the call for enhanced coordination and urged COCOBOD to work closely with regional coordinating councils to improve communication and ensure more effective monitoring mechanisms across cocoa-growing areas.
