Ghana’s cocoa sector may face major foreign exchange setbacks unless swift investments are made to boost large-scale production.
That is the warning from the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Jeroen Verheul, who has called for an urgent reset of the country’s cocoa industry.
He warns that Ghana risks losing its global competitiveness to emerging producers like Ecuador and Brazil if long-standing structural issues in the sector are not urgently addressed.
The Dutch envoy was speaking to Channel One Business on the sidelines of a high-level public-private dialogue in Accra on Ghana’s readiness for the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
The Ambassador stressed that compliance with EU sustainability directives and increased productivity through large-scale farming will be key to maintaining Ghana’s market share and safeguarding crucial forex earnings.
For him, any decline in Ghana’s global competitiveness could trigger broader macroeconomic consequences.
“If production is going down as it is going down right now, then that means there is less export of cocoa and less foreign exchange earned by farmers and less foreign exchange earned by the economy.
“So it’s a threat to the economy if production if going down so there is an imperative for the Ghana economy to maintain the cocoa sector, to invest in it, to make it more productive to make it more competitive,” Jeroen Verheul said.
As an intervention, the International Trade Centre (ITC) is also taking proactive steps to help Ghana align its cocoa production with international standards to avoid future market rejections.
Larry Attipoe National Coordinator for the Centre’s value chain initiatives in Ghana said this is expected to strengthen Ghana’s cocoa value chain and ensure long-term export viability.
“We bring information such as what it takes you to produce to meet international demands [and] meet all the specifications,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, is deeply concerned over the sharp decline in cocoa production and the rising debt burden within the sector.
Addressing the inauguration of an 11-member board of directors for COCOBOD, Jinapor highlighted that the sector’s debt has ballooned from GH₵400 million in 2017 to a staggering GH₵2.6 billion—a development he described as alarming and deserving of urgent attention.
“COCOBOD, just like the energy sector, has been in the news for some disturbing reasons. From a debt of 400 million in 2017, the debt is now projected at 2.6 billion, which is very worrying, and all of us ought to be very concerned about the state of COCOBOD,” he said.
He also lamented the drop in cocoa production, which, according to him, has declined from about one million metric tonnes in 2016/2017 to roughly 500,000 metric tonnes, and is continuing on a downward trajectory.
“Around 2016/2017, cocoa production hit around one million. Now it’s declined to around 500. That is quite worrying and is even going down further, just like oil production,” he noted.
Jinapor urged the new board to prioritise cost-cutting measures and operational efficiency, staying true to COCOBOD’s core mandate.
“A trim in costs, bringing about efficiency and deal particularly in what COCOBOD was established to do. That is to ensure that we increase cocoa production and add value to our cocoa,” he said.
He explained that the inclusion of key financial leaders, such as the Finance Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, on the board is meant to enhance fiscal discipline.Ghanaian food recipes
“The presence of the finance minister and the Governor of BoG, Dr Johnson Asiama, is to check fiscal slippages, which can affect its monitoring side. So you ought to ensure that there is a high level of discipline,” he explained.
Expressing confidence in the newly constituted board, Jinapor said: “With the calibre of people on this board, I’m very confident that we will turn the sector around.”
The new COCOBOD board is chaired by Dr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Policy Advisor at the Office of the Vice President, and includes Dr. Johnson Asiama, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, and Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minister for Finance.
