Ghana to process 40% of cocoa beans by 2005

The government would formulate adequate policies for the processing of at least 40 per cent of the country's cocoa produced by the year 2005, Hon. Yaw Osafo Maafo, Minister of Finance said on Wednesday. He mentioned that the government would initiate measures to attract investors and establish more processing plants in order to make the cocoa processing industry viable.

Currently, about 19 per cent of the country's annual average production of 400,000 metric tonnes, which is less than three per cent of the world production was being processed. Mr Osafo Maafo said these when he launched a book entitled: "The Success Story of Cocoa Processing and Chocolate manufacturing in Ghana - The Success Story that demolished a myth."

Mr Paul Kwame Awua, Managing Director of the Cocoa Processing Company Limited, authored the book. It places emphasis on the production of quality cocoa in Ghana, statistics on world production of the crop, processing and consumption of cocoa products and confectionery items as well as the processing and marketing of semi-finished and finished products.

The book also talks on the nutritional value of and health benefits of cocoa and chocolate products and gives answers to the growing concerns and doubts raised about the health implications of consuming the products. Its front cover depicts cocoa beans and cocoa products, a manufacturing site and a farmer harvesting the crop, set out in a forest background.

Mr Osafo Maafo said in processing cocoa beans, "It is necessary to create linkages between companies in the industry so that one company could take over from where another left of." The minister described Mr Awua's book as "an encyclopaedia on cocoa production and processing in Ghana".

He said the book presented a holistic picture of the operations of the cocoa industry, indicating that processing cocoa beans was not only advantageous but also commercially viable. Hon. Osafo Maafo said the book constitutes a tool for investment and a guide to greater participation in the processing of cocoa beans into products for local consumption and for export.

Mr Awua, a trained Biochemist, said he was not motivated by financial consideration in writing the book, adding that it was aimed at helping in disabusing the minds of people who held the view that processing cocoa in Ghana was not economically viable. "It is sad that this view is still being held by some responsible and influential people in the country who could advice the government in formulating polices to enable the industry add value to the cocoa beans before export," he observed.

He suggested that the country should process more than 50 per cent of its cocoa beans locally considering the performance of the Cocoa Processing Company and the benefits the country had derived from its operations,' he added. The first copy of the book was auctioned at 20 million cedis.