Cocoa Purchases Hit Record High

Cocoa main crop purchases for the 2010/11 season reached a record 903,646 metric tonnes, making it the highest in the history of Ghana’s cocoa production.

This was 55 percent above last year's levels and the most since the country registered its name on the international market as a producer of cocoa.

“The record production has been the result of concerted efforts by government, farmers, Ghana Cocoa Board and major players in the industry through adherence to good agronomic methods, modern farming processes, payment of remunerative prices for the produce, development of hybrid cocoa seedlings, application of fertilizers, disease and pest control, and scientific research," said Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) in a statement.

Cocobod has dismissed reports that the record was contributed to by large amounts of beans being smuggled into Ghana from Ivory Coast. Cocobod has twice revised upward its target for cocoa purchases this year. It estimates that the 11-week light crop, which is due to start on June 3, will range between 70,000 and 100,000 tonnes.

The statement said since 1999 governments, through COOBOD, had put in place pragmatic measures to ensure that Ghana maintained the quality of its beans for which it is noted worldwide, sustain and also increase cocoa production. “Today we can boast of a record production and hope to reach the one million tons target by 2012/2013.”

COCOBOD congratulated the hardworking cocoa farmers, Licenced Buying Companies, haulers, chemical and processing companies, the national anti-smuggling taskforce, COCOBOD, its divisions and subsidiaries and all stakeholders for the relentless efforts that have propelled the country to attain the record level of cocoa production.

"As we prepare to start the light crop season for 2010/2011, we encourage all our stakeholders to continue to work strenuously to enable us achieve an all-time record of one million tonnes by the end of the 2012/2013 crop season," the statement said.