Ghana has stepped up measures to check the smuggling of cocoa, its main export, with Defence Minister Kwame Addo Kufuor launching an Anti-Smuggling Initiative.
The move is aimed at persuading people living in cocoa growing areas along the country's borders with Cote d'Ivoire and Togo, to support government in combating the smuggling of the beans.
At a ceremony attended by various security agencies and stakeholders, Addo Kufuor said available records showed that Ghana had a shortfall of about 60,000 tonnes of cocoa last season due to smuggling and the blackpod disease.
The country is the world's third largest cocoa producer after Cote d'Ivoire and Indonesia.
The Minister said the lost revenue would have provided many clinics, feeder roads, boreholes and classroom blocks for deprived communities along the country's borders.
He noted that the activities of "professional smugglers" who cart large quantities of cocoa beans across the border contributed to the problem.
Addo Kufuor also cited other problems as delays in the disposal of cases involving smuggling in the law Courts, the cocoa purchasing system, which is fraught with inefficiency and corruption, and the poor road networks within cocoa growing areas that hinder smooth transportation to marketing centres.
Other drawbacks are the differentials in the producer price of cocoa in Ghana and neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire and the closure of some rural banks in the cocoa growing areas.
Addo Kufuor said incentives would be given to Chiefs and people living in the border areas to ensure they co-operated fully with Ghana Cocoa Baord (COCOBOD) and security agencies in the anti-smuggling war.
As part of the initiative, any community that contributes to significant reduction in cocoa smuggling would receive additional incentives that would include COCOBOD providing school uniforms and stationary to needy pupils in the area.
Also, one-third of the proceeds recovered from smugglers would be paid to such a community in line with the existing proportion used by the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
Addo Kufuor said COCOBOD should support efforts by the Department of Feeder Roads in rehabilitating roads in communities along the borders for swift evacuation of cocoa.
He appealed to COCOBOD to expedite action to collect data on farm size, location of cocoa farms and annual output of farmers, especially those in border areas, for the necessary support.
The Minister suggested that subject to the availability of resources, COCOBOD should also purchase cocoa beans at any time of the year.
