Stakeholders in coconut value chain to boost production

Stakeholders in the coconut value chain have expressed their commitment to make the country one of the top three largest coconut producers in the world.

Consequently, industry actors, which consist of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCPA) and the African Coconut Group, have joined forces to increase the country’s annual coconut production from the current 412,459 tonnes to 14 million tonnes in the next three years.

They intend to meet the target by investing more in research, production, capacity building, equipment, digitalisation and market development.

TCPA’s investments

Closing the second edition of the International Coconut Festival in Accra last Friday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the TCPA, William Quaitoo, said the authority intended to inject $20 million in the coconut value chain in the next five years.

He said the fund would be invested in research, production, capacity building and digitalisation.

Mr Quaitoo said the role of the TCPA was to regulate and develop in a sustainable manner, the processing and marketing of tree crops, with coconut being key.

The CEO stated that the country had an enormous potential in the coconut value chain.

“Our current production is not our limit. We can multiply our current production by 10 folds to develop the country to be among the top three producers of coconut in the world,” he said.

Increase production

Mr Quaitoo noted that in the past, most people thought coconut was only meant for the coastal communities but now the situation had changed with the production of the crop doing extremely well in the hinterlands.

“Players in the coastal areas should not think that coconut is only meant for them because if they do not take care, Ashanti Region may overtake them soon,” he said.

He stated that the authority was trying to ensure that farmers accessed all the lands available for the production of the crop.

“We also want to ensure that the right seedlings are available to the farmers so that we can deliberately increase yields,” he added.

GEPA’s role

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the GEPA, Samuel Dentu, said the GEPA was taking steps to develop and promote non-traditional exports.

“And so, we are taking steps to bring the coconut industry to the limelight. Just as it’s been said at the closing ceremony, we want to be the number three in the world in terms of coconut production.

“Next year, we will see more productivity in coconut production in the country because we have already made some investments and efforts,” he said.

Mr Dentu said the GEPA was hopeful that the country would see more coconut processing factories to add value to the produce before exporting it.

Commendation

The Chairman of the Africa Coconut Group, Davis Korboe, commended the GEPA and the TCDA for the support in the last few years to help develop the sector into a significant revenue source for the government.

In order to become a revenue source, he said the government also needed to invest more to make the coconut industry more vibrant to contribute to national development.

Mr Korboe said more investment would grow Ghana’s coconut industry among the world's largest producers which included Philippines, Indonesia and India that together produced about 70 per cent of the world's total coconut.

“Ghana is currently the 14th producer of coconut in the world and first in Africa,” he said.

The festival

The 2022 International Coconut Festival was to explore ways of expediting the growth of the sector by adding value to the raw materials produced from coconut.

It was on the theme “Repositioning Ghana’s Coconut Sector for Accelerated Industrialisation Agenda”.

It was organised by the Africa Coconut Group and the GEPA.

The festival also climaxed with the inauguration of the Senior High School (SHS) Coconut Module Project meant to encourage students to venture into coconut production after school.