President John Agyekum Kufuor has announced an increase in funds for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Scholarship Scheme from 1.5 million GH Cedis to two million GH Cedis to widen the circle of beneficiaries.
The scheme instituted for wards of the country's cocoa farmers, he noted, was significantly contributing to the human resource development of the nation.
President Kufuor was inaugurating the refurbished Cocoa House, the Head Office of the COCOBOD located on the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue in Accra.
An amount of 6.5 million GH Cedis was spent to refurbish the six-storey complex with a state-of-the-art gymnasium facility, Close-Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) and a network of computers.
Cocoa House, which was built at a cost of nearly two million Gold Coast Pounds and officially inaugurated by Ghana's first President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah in November 1960, for over 40 years did not see any significant maintenance, thereby losing its shine.
President Kufuor used the occasion to pay glowing tribute to cocoa farmers for sustaining the national economy and said he was happy with the consistent increase of their share of the price on the international market from 46 per cent in the year 2001 to about 72 per cent in the current crop season.
Also heart-warming was the fact that COCOBOD twice in the year paid bonuses to the tune of 32 million GH Cedis to them, he said.
In line with the national policy of ensuring value addition to the raw cocoa beans through local processing of at least 40 per cent of the annual output, he outlined steps taken to attract investments in this direction.
These include granting of requisite permission for importing essential plant, machinery, equipment and accessories and the exemption from payment of customs import duties on these.
President Kufuor gave assurance of the Government's resolve to help to eliminate all forms of child labour in the cocoa sector.
He said it was supporting on-going programmes put in place by the COCOBOD.
Already field-staff of the Board are engaged in activities to sensitize the farming community on the dangers of child labour.
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Finance Minister, said the refurbishment symbolized the Government's determination to ensure that the infrastructure base of the country was improved and expanded.
He noted that the various policy interventions put in by the Government were paying off as evidenced from the almost doubling of cocoa production since the 2001.
The Chief Executive Officer of the COCOBOD, Mr Isaac Osei, said the refurbishment was in tune with the Government's agenda on the restoration of all national monuments.