Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Chief Executive Officer Randy Abbey has raised alarm over the ineffective use of a $263 million loan facility earmarked for cocoa farm rehabilitation, suggesting significant financial mismanagement in one of the country’s most strategic agricultural recovery programmes.
Speaking during a working visit to cocoa farmers in Nkawie, located in Ghana’s Ashanti Region, Abbey disclosed that just 40,000 hectares of diseased cocoa plantations were rehabilitated, barely a quarter of the 156,000-hectare target, despite the full disbursement of the funds.
“If we had successfully done this 156,000 hectares, it would have contributed up to 200,000 tonnes to our production,” Abbey said. “We took all this money, and all we have to show is just 40,000 hectares completed.”
The initiative, launched to combat the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD), was meant to revive productivity in Ghana’s cocoa sector, which is critical to national revenue. The failure to achieve project goals now casts a shadow over previous fiscal planning and execution.
In addition to the $263 million, COCOBOD spent another GHS700 million on the same programme. Abbey said the outcomes were “saddening,” and revealed that the issue has been referred to “the appropriate state authorities” for investigation.
“There are agencies responsible for the investigation of these things. I am saddened by what has happened because it was the golden opportunity to turn things around in the sector,” he said.
The CEO also disclosed that upon assuming office, the new management was confronted with legacy financial burdens, including GHS21 billion in road contracts and a GHS4.4 billion debt portfolio, further complicating the institution’s fiscal recovery efforts.
Despite these challenges, COCOBOD is now moving forward with a scaled-back rehabilitation plan targeting 21,000 hectares in a bid to recover unused portions of the land abandoned under the previous initiative.
“We have left some in the bush, and that is what I am trying to go and work on and be able to hand them over so we can add them to the productive stock of farms we have,” Abbey said.
