Delivering the keynote address at the launch of this year's National Chocolate Week Celebration in Accra yesterday, Mr Nkrumah said while continuing with efforts to boost domestic production of cocoa, it was important to take advantage of this year’s celebration to step up efforts to increase processing of cocoa locally.

"One of the ways to do this is to guarantee the light crop for the local producers so that they do not have to buy the main crop for domestic processing.

As we know, the main crop is comparatively more expensive. If we are serious about boosting local production then we must move quickly to ensure that local processors are able to fully meet their bean needs from the light crop," he said.

Chocolate Week

The National Chocolate Day Celebration was instituted in 2005 to coincide with Valentine’s Day, which falls on February 14, every year.

It is meant to boost the domestic consumption of Ghana chocolate and other cocoa-based products, among others.

What used to be a day’s celebration was transformed into a week-long celebration in 2022 due to the numerous benefits the country stands to gain if the cocoa industry is nationally promoted.

Support

Mr Nkrumah charged the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to use policy instruments to ensure that financing support was provided for domestic processors.

"The financial sector should be incentivised to provide financing for the domestic processors using the cocoa beans as security and escrowing into an account of the off-takers. The challenge of financing domestic processors will be lightened via this channel" he added.

He said although the Ghana Free Zones Authority (GFZA) and other agencies provided support for the cocoa sector, it was important for COCOBOD to provide other supports to make the sector more attractive

On the matter of stimulating domestic consumption of cocoa products, Mr Nkrumah said it was important for support to be given to all the value chain in the sector

"We need to promote more chocolatiers to join the value chain. The more domestic chocolatiers and nuanced products there are on the local market, the better our chances of deepening the local taste and demand.

The red carpet of incentives as we would give a foreign direct investor should be rolled out for local chocolatiers as well,” he added.

Again, he said it was important for the 35 per cent for butter and liquor, which were raw materials for chocolatiers be re-considered to make the sector competitive and the products affordable.