The Head of Sales and Marketing, Nana Agyemang Ansong, made the call last Friday when Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) hosted about 300 pupils from the Ashaiman Cluster of Schools in the Greater Accra Region as part of activities marking this year's World Chocolate Day celebration, which falls on Sunday, July 7.

The day, which is celebrated globally on July 7 each year, was started in 2009 to commemorate the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550.  To mark the day, learners and teachers in the schools sampled one of the flagship products of the company, the Golden Tree Alltime Instant Drinking Chocolate.

He recounted the history behind the day, adding that it was aimed at inculcating into Ghanaians, especially the young ones, the habit of consuming cocoa products daily for better health.

He said the company targeted the youth, especially the young ones, to consume chocolate for its health benefits, adding, “We need to build a healthy future for this nation by starting with the children.”

Nana Ansong said because Ghana was a major stakeholder in the cocoa enterprise, the management of the company felt the need to highlight the importance of the cocoa beans and their products hence the engagement with the learners to introduce them to the products and continue to remind them about the need to consume cocoa products.

He was optimistic that through such campaigns, CPC would be able to increase the consumption of cocoa products and help young people derive health benefits from the cocoa beans.

Nana Ansong lauded the government’s initiative of providing learners cocoa drinks under the school feeding programme, adding  that the CPC was making efforts to bring the basic schools on board by celebrating days such as World Chocolate Day and National Chocolate Day to bring to the fore the need for Ghanaians to consume cocoa products.

The Director of Education for Ashaiman Municipality, Clifford Henaku Budu, expressed gratitude to the CPC for the intervention, saying it would increase awareness among the learners of the health benefits of consuming cocoa products.