How cocoa smuggling can be halted - COCOBOD CEO details

Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has said one of the major cankers that keep rearing its head in the industry is the smuggling of this essential commodity into jerry cans and other means to neighbouring countries.

He said several arrests in relation to smuggling have been made, yet there has not been any headway in solving this menace.

According to Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the solution to cocoa smuggling is outdooring new prices.

"We have made a lot of arrests. We have arrested people smuggling cocoa in jerrycans among others. But that will not solve the problem. The solution is bringing a new price," he stressed.

Mr Boahen, however, stated that his outfit was committed to giving cocoa farmers the best prices.

The COCOBOD CEO said this when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, to respond to some infractions captured in the 2022 Auditor-General's report.

Ghana was said to have lost about 150,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans in 2023 due to smuggling to Togo and Burkina Faso.

This represented about $600 million in the last crop season.

Meanwhile, in September 2023, the government increased the cocoa buying price from GH¢800 per 64 kilogrammes (kg) to GH¢1,308.

SA/NOQ