Let’s push for more processing, consumption of cocoa

That Ghana is inching closer to meeting its target of locally processing 50 per cent of cocoa beans produced in the country, as hinted by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, at the launch of this year’s National Chocolate Week, is, indeed, welcome news.

If we successfully reach the 50 per cent mark, it will definitely enable the country to gain more from its cocoa than it is doing currently.

It will even be more profitable for us if, after attaining the 50 per cent mark, we ensure that no cocoa beans leaves our ports in the raw form, as is mostly the case now.

Although for many years the country has largely depended on its cocoa beans as the number one foreign exchange earner, it will make more economic gain if we process or we add value to our beans before export.

It is in the light of this that we laud the government for embarking on a plan in 2017 not only to increase cocoa production to one million tonnes but also improve the local processing of the beans to 50 per cent.

We already have seven major cocoa processing firms in the country, with an estimated processing capacity of about 500,000 tonnes, while a new 50,000 capacity processing factory is currently under construction in the Western Region.

That notwithstanding, we need to put in place the appropriate infrastructure, such as adequate financing, for domestic chocolatiers and processors, and also ensure that they get access to the light crop all-year round if we still want to export the main crop because we get premium price for it.

We must further offer support in whatever way possible to all in the value chain and have the taxes paid by artisanal chocolate manufacturers reduced or scrapped to reduce the cost of operation to make them more competitive.

While having cocoa processing firms bodes well for the country in its attempt to add value to its cocoa beans and also rake in the much needed foreign exchange, there is more to be done to increase cocoa consumption, both locally and also externally, to claim our spot as the number one cocoa-producing country in the world.

We cannot ignore the fact that the National Chocolate Day instituted in 2005 to coincide with Valentine’s Day, which was scaled up to a week-long celebration in 2022, has popularised the local consumption of cocoa products.

Meanwhile, Ghana's current 1.0 kilogramme per capita consumption of cocoa is inadequate and we need to make cocoa intake a daily affair by making it more appealing to the people through effective branding and marketing.

The quality of Ghana’s cocoa beans is acknowledged worldwide and all we need to do is assist processing firms with training and the polishing of their craft to make their products attractive.

Apart from cocoa’s nourishing taste, any consumer of cocoa products stands to benefit, health wise, from them.

Cocoa is rich in polyphenols, which have significant health benefits, including reduced inflammation and improved cholesterol levels.

Cocoa, both in its powdered form and as dark chocolate, may also be able to help lower blood pressure, and this must make marketing cocoa products, both locally and internationally, very easy.

We must be deliberate in selling the benefits to be derived from the consumption of cocoa to people and insist that we have cocoa breaks at workshops and training programmes, instead of the tea breaks that are taken at such fora.

We can also explore market access and opportunities within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to expand the frontiers of our cocoa products.

Doing these will give us a substantial part of the over US$150 billion revenue accrued from the global chocolate confectionery industry annually.

Indeed, we must make every day a chocolate day. We must "Eat chocolate, stay healthy, grow Ghana".

We must be creative in the use of our cocoa beans and by-products for sweets, liquor, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, crafts and a lot more.

Above all, we should make cocoa products affordable to the ordinary Ghanaian by investing in the processing sector, so we can improve on patronage among the populace.