COCOBOD CEO shares top award with Ivorian counterpart

Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, and his Ivorian counterpart Yves Brahima Kone have jointly been honoured with the “Cocoa Farmer Income Sustainability Honorary Award” at the historic first edition of the Ghana Cocoa Awards.

A citation accompanying the award noted, “your achievement of a Living Income Differential (LID) of USD $400 per tonne of cocoa and a floor price of USD $2,600 provides sufficient evidence of your passion to improving the Living Standards and livelihoods of cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast.”

The presidents of Ghana and Ivory Coast, Nana Akufo Addo and Alhassane Ouattara, respectively, in October 2017 agreed to coordinate their respective policies in the Cocoa sector to ensure that the two countries who are responsible for the production of 65% of the world’s cocoa, reap higher benefits from the sector than what both currently enjoy.

Joseph Boahen Aidoo, Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board, and the Director-General of Ivory Coast’s Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao, Yves Brahima Kone, were directly charged to actualise the dream through close cooperation.

The duo after a long phase of negotiations with international market players last July successfully sealed a historic floor price deal of $2600, a mechanism that cushions the two countries from selling their cocoa produce below that price, and a further $400 living income differential mark up on every tonne of cocoa, meant specifically to improve farmers’ earnings.

TETTEH QUARSHIE COCOA PERSONALITY AWARD 2019

Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo, also picked up the topmost award, the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Personality 2019 at the Ghana Cocoa Awards event held at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

He beat off competition from the Regional Director of Solidaridad West, Mr Isaac Gyamfi, and a serving Ghanaian legislator, Honorable Abraham Dwuma Odoom.

Presenting the awards and citation to Mr. Aidoo at Cocoa House, headquarters of Ghana Cocoa Board, the Founder of Ghana Cocoa Awards, Mr. Kojo Hayford, conveyed the appreciation of the public who voted and the jury who scored the COCOBOD Chief Executive for advancing the interests of the farmer as well as pursuing numerous Productivity Enhancement Programmes to increase yield and improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers.

‘Sir, your efforts at promoting cocoa production through sustainable programmes to guarantee better and decent cocoa prices for the Ghanaian cocoa farmer has not gone unnoticed and the evidence is clear,’ he observed.

Receiving the plaques and citation in the presence of his Deputy Chief Executive in-charge of Finance and Administration, Mr Ray Ankrah, Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo was grateful to VC Media Ghana for independently organizing the Ghana Cocoa Awards initiative and expressed profound gratitude to the voting pubic and awards jury for recognising his and bestowing such a wonderful honour on him.

“I don’t think this award is for me alone – I share it with all the people around me who have supported my administration,” he said.

Thirty-five (35) other awards were given out to deserving recipients from the various stages of the cocoa value chain during the Friday 22 November 2019 Ghana Cocoa Awards Gala Night.

OTHER HONORARY AWARDS

Former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Ghana’s attainment of over 1million metric tonnes cocoa production in 2010/2011. Mr Anthony Fofie, former COCOBOD chief executive the sustainability honorary award; Professor Frederick Kwaku Addai, Health Benefits of Cocoa Research Honorary Award; Professor Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa, Cocoa Production & Processing Technology Honorary Award; Osabarima Kwame Otu Darteh III Paramount Chief of Akuapem-Mampong, Custodian of the Golden Tree Honorary Award and the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) received the Consumption Promotion Organisation Honorary Award.

Other awardees are Mrs Yaa Peprah Amekudzi, Cocoa Sustainability Personality 2019; Mr Edmund Poku (MD, Niche Cocoa Industry Ltd), Cocoa Entrepreneur 2019; Dr Edward Amporful, Cocoa Consumption Promotion Ambassador 2019; and Mr Justice Baidoo of Joy News emerged the Solidaridad Cocoa Reporting Journalist 2019.

COCOA INDUSTRY AWARDS

The Asunafo North Cocoa Cooperative was adjudged the Most Formalised Cocoa Cooperative 2019; Lois Osei-Sekyere of Aburi Girls Senior High School picked the Cocoa Sustainability Literacy Essay Contest Award; AMP Logistics, Logistics Company 2019; Kiteko Ghana Limited, Haulage Company 2019; and the Agricultural Development Bank, Cocoa Financing Institution 2019.

In the Agro Input category, Yara Ghana picked for the fertilizer division; RMG Ghana for the Chemicals division and Crop Doctor Ltd’s Sharp Power 4T also picked award for the farm implement division.

Niche Cocoa bagged two more awards in Tertiary Cocoa Processing Company and Semi-Finished categories; whereas Mi-Cocoa (Ohene Cocoa) walked away with the Artisanal Processing Company Award 2019.

In the chocolate brand of the year categories, Niche Chocolate won the large scale division and the Decokraft for the artisanal division.



Cocoa Processing Company (CPC)’s Royale Natural Cocoa Powder won the Cocoa Beverage Product Award; Beauty Secrets, Cocoa Cosmetics Product Award 2019; KOA Cocoa Juice, the Most Innovative Cocoa Product 2019; Niche Chocolate, Best Packaging Innovation 2019; ZOLA (Zegha Energy Ltd), Community Energy InnovatIon 2019; and Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), Research & Development Project 2019.

Technology for Cocoa Value Chain Award was annexed by FarmLogics Technologies; Fairtrade Africa picked for Best Certification Scheme 2019; African Cocoa & Chocolate Expo by Know Your Cocoa Foundation also picked the Cocoa Consumption Campaign Award.

Mondelez International’s Cocoa Life programme was adjudged the Ghana Cocoa Awards Sustainability Initiative 2019 with Solidaridad West Africa emerging the Cocoa NGO 2019.

Sponsors for Ghana Cocoa Awards 2019 were ECOM Ghana, Agricultural Development, Solidaridad West Africa, Fairtrade Africa, AMP Logistics, RMG Ghana and the Hershey Company.

The Ghana Cocoa Awards (GCA) is a recognition and celebration of the hard work and committed loyalty of the individuals and organisations accounting for Ghana’s premium export to the world – Cocoa. According to the Founder, Kojo Hayford, GCA is an effort to reward and institutionalize an annual celebration of the contributions of stakeholders in the cocoa industry to national development.

He said, “Once every year actors within the cocoa value chain will gather for the industry’s biggest and most prestigious networking and gala night, where excellence, leadership and innovation will be celebrated.