This, he said, would go a long way to increase the consumption of cocoa products in the country as well as enable cocoa production companies to increase their production.

Celebration

Mr Ahadzi was speaking at a ceremony to commemorate this year’s Regional Chocolate Day Celebration at the Rock Gardens Eco-Resort in Bolgatanga last Saturday.

It was on the theme: “Eat chocolate, stay healthy, grow Ghana with the sub theme; explore Ghana, eat chocolate.

As part of the event, the participants took a tour of the resort which has facilities such as a mini zoo, canopy walkway, swimming pool, children's playground, among others.

He noted that when the demand for cocoa products increased, it would provide the needed impetus to cocoa producing companies to produce more for both local and external consumption as well as transform the cocoa industry.

He stressed that Ghana, being the second largest producer of cocoa and considering the enormous benefits of cocoa and its products, the GTA, together with the Ghana Cocoa Board, had collaborated to increase the consumption of cocoa products.

‘‘As an authority, we believe that if we increase cocoa consumption, it would enable the country to produce more to take back the position as the leading cocoa producing country in Africa,” Mr Ahadzi stated.

Choice

The GTA’s Upper East Regional Director noted that the Rock Gardens Eco-Resort was strategically chosen for the celebration as it had been set to promote the culture in the region, saying “I wish to urge everyone to have passion for the things we have as Ghanaians and put them to good use for national development”.

While stressing on the numerous tourism potential in the region, he admitted that the government alone could not develop them to serve the intended purposes of promoting tourism in the region and the nation as a whole.

He, therefore, called on individuals and stakeholders to ‘‘come together for more collaboration to move the region forward in terms of domestic tourism”.

Conservation

The Director, Rock Gardens Eco-Resort, Dr Asaah Sumaila Mohammed, said the region had a lot of things that could be conserved in terms of culture and biodiversity, adding that “as a people, we must strive to conserve the environment for the benefit of future generations as well”.

He indicated that the natural environment was the only thing we had so we should endeavour to protect it from destruction as its continuous degradation would pose a threat to the survival of all.