A three-member Parliamentary Select Committee on
Trade, Industry and Tourism, on Wednesday paid a working visit to the management of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in Accra.
It was to map out strategies towards achievement of the one million tonnes production target for 2012 and 2013.
Members of the committee discussed challenges confronting management and the needed support to regain its number one position in the world in terms of quality cocoa production.
Alhaji Amadu Bukari Sorogho, Chairman of the committee, expressed concern over 'series' of reports of corruption, smuggling, and inefficiency of the management he had personally received from stakeholders, Parliamentarians and chiefs.
"There is the need for management to address these issues to fulfil its mandate, "he said.
Alhaji Sorogho, who is also Member of Parliament for Abokobi, Madina, an Accra suburb, said Ghana's cocoa was well known for its quality and stressed that the enviable niche it had carved in the world had to be protected and sustained.
Mr. William Mensah, Deputy Chief Executive in-charge of Finance and Administration, said that management would live up to its mandate and
achieve its target for 2012 and 2013 cocoa season.
He said mass spraying of cocoa, use of hi-technology, rehabilitation of old cocoa farms and lean and cost-effective extension were measures management had undertaken to meet the target.
Mr. Mensah observed that though many had complained that the high price of cocoa in Cote d'Ivoire served as incentive for perpetrators to smuggle the produce, the relative lower price in the country was due to some factors.
He said these included farmers' bonuses, free mass spraying of cocoa farms, scholarship schemes for wards of farmers, subsidised fertilizers and other incentives, which were deducted from the cost of production, before
the price of cocoa was fixed adding "that explained the price differential".
COCOBOD was established in 1947 as the statutory public institution mandated to regulate the cocoa industry in Ghana. It commands the
administrative powers to formulate appropriate policies to facilitate the production and marketing of cocoa in the country.