World Bank Invests U.S.$300 Million in Ghana Cocoa Industry

The World Bank is set to invest $300 million in Ghana's cocoa industry to shore up production of the crop over the next five years, a Senior World Bank Agricultural Economist, Amos Gyau has announced.

Under the Cocoa Sector Value Chain Project, the initiative is to increase productivity levels of cocoa farmers as well as promote value addition.

Gyau explained that the government had approached the World Bank to support the country to increase her cocoa production and thus the World Bank and government as well as Cocoa Board was discussing the modalities of the project.

He said the objective of the project was to help farmers increase their production levels from the current 300 kilogrammes per hectare to two tonnes per hectare over the period.

"The World Bank seeks to support the cocoa sector to double productivity in the next five years," he said, through the provision of better seedlings and inputs to farmers, hand pollination and educating farmers on best agronomic practices.

Dr Gyau also intimated that the annual value of the world cocoa trade amounted to about $9 billion and only 7 per cent got to the cocoa producing countries because the cocoa produce was exported in its raw state to the world market, saying it was to reverse that the World Bank intends to finance the Cocoa Value Chain Project.

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