Newly appointed acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Randy Abbey, has said enhancing cocoa production through large-scale farming is a top priority for his administration.
The acting CEO has, therefore, pledged to collaborate with cocoa farmers and other stakeholders to transform the ailing cocoa sector of the country.
Among the numerous challenges the sector is grappling with is the declining production. A sector that produced about 1.4 million tons of cocoa in the 2020/2021 crop season has been on a constant decline. Due to a number of factors, the country is struggling to produce half of the milestone achieved in the 2020/2021 season.
The severity of the situation was seen last year when COCOBOD had to revise downwards its target for the year. Although COCOBOD target to produce 810,000 tons, it was forced to revise it to 650,000 tons.
Analysts as well as the cocoa sector stakeholders believe the situation is a result of the impact of the rampant illegal mining eating away large hectares of cocoa farms. It is estimated that about 20,000 hectares of cocoa farms have been lost to galamsey.
Climate change, pests, and others have also contributed to this decline.
Recognizing the task ahead, the new acting CEO is convinced the way to go is through emphasizing more on large-scale cocoa farming. Dr. Randy Abbey takes this inspiration from Ghana’s neighbor and rival in cocoa production, Cote d’Ivoire who has mastered the art of large-scale farms to boost their production.
Engaging some stakeholders including some farmers who paid a courtesy call on him, Dr. Randy Abbey said, “We need to work together with the farmers to see how we can increase that. There is also the issue of prioritizing large-scale farming if you look at Côte d’Ivoire and some of the neighboring countries.”
The COCOBOD acting CEO further pledged to ensure the financial welfare of cocoa farmers. He says the farmers will take center stage during his tenure adding that he will listen to them and prioritize them in his decision making.
“We need to listen to them, they are the practitioners. They [farmers] have been involved in this for decades and in every decision that we take, we need to have their input. They ought to be central in our decision-making.
“We also need to prioritize their welfare, so that is what I mean by putting the cocoa farmers at the center of what we do here,” the former host of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Show pledged to the stakeholders.
Apart from the low production of cocoa and farmers’ welfare issues, Dr. Randy Abbey is also faced with the persistent issues of smuggling. It is estimated that about 160,000 tons of cocoa was smuggled out of the country in the 2023/2024 cocoa season.
He also faces the challenge of cocoa prices as farmers continue to bemoan the prices offered by the government. With these challenges and many others, Dr. Randy Abbey has a herculean task of transforming the sector which is a major foreign exchange earner for the economy.
