Sunyani(B/A), Oct. 01, GNA - Mr Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs on Sunday said Government had designed policies to increase value addition and encourage downstream processing of cocoa in the country.

He said many cocoa processing factories were being established to process more cocoa beans.

Mr Mpiani announced this in an address read for him at the national celebration of Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) day at Sunyani. The celebration was under the theme, "Towards increased local processing and consumption of cocoa and its derivatives".

He said Government was determined to implement appropriate policies that would sustain and expand the cocoa industry, which had been the backbone of the nation's economy for several years.

Mr Mpiani noted that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration had achieved tremendous successes in the cocoa industry, citing the 2003/2004 main crop season with cocoa output of 736,000 metric tonnes that had been described as remarkable and comparable to the 1960s when Ghana produced approximately 581,000 metric tonnes during the 1964/1965 main crop season.

Cocoa production in the 2005/2006 main crop season is estimated to be approximately 720,000 metric tonnes.

Mr Mpiani attributed the achievements to the consistent policy measures by Government over the past five years, which had increased farmers' earnings, reduced poverty and improved the quality of life of cocoa farmers.

The Chief of Staff noted that the significant improvements in the global cocoa output had brought in some challenges, which required concerted efforts by members of COPAL.

Mr Mpiani said apart from its economic gains, the regular consumption of cocoa was good in controlling diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular diseases.

He reiterated the Government's commitment to ensure improvement in the welfare of cocoa farmers, and was critically looking at reviewing the producer price of cocoa for the 2006/2007 season.

Mr Isaac Osei, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), stressed the need to change marketing strategies to increase the sale of domestically processed cocoa, search for new markets and modernise the warehousing and port handling operations to enable the Board cope with the increased volume of cocoa passing through the ports. He said the Board had supported private processing factories such as Barry Callebaut at Tema, which were currently embarking on expansion programme to increase their processing capacities and was optimistic that the total processing capacity in the country would reach 285,000 tonnes when expansion programmes by processing factories were completed early next year.

Mr Osei said COCOBOD had supported the education of wards of cocoa farmers through the COCOBOD Scholarship Scheme over the years, indicating that during 2005/2006 academic year, 2,731 scholarships were awarded to students in second cycle institutions of which 91.6 per cent were awarded to wards of cocoa farmers.

He commended stakeholders in the industry, especially cocoa farmers for their hard work towards its sustenance and reminded cocoa farmers on the need to follow the recommended fermentation practices to avoid the incidence of purple beans.

Mr Osei cautioned cocoa farmers against the use of Gammalin, a banned insecticide which when applied would lead to the rejection of cocoa beans on the international market.

Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, noted that despite its tremendous nutritional values, consumption of cocoa and its products was low in the country.

He stressed the need to educate people to make the consumption of cocoa products part of their daily lives.

The Regional Minister said Government was determined to revamp the cocoa industry, hence the introduction of schemes such as the mass cocoa spraying exercise, cocoa hi-tech initiative and bonuses paid to cocoa farmers.

Mr Baffour-Awuah explained that because of the 91newfound' wealth in cocoa farming, most unemployed youth in the region were venturing into the enterprise while farmers were rehabilitating their old and abandoned farms.

He said to ensure that cocoa produced by farmers were transported to the ports and factories for processing, Government had voted huge sums of money for the construction and rehabilitation of roads in cocoa growing areas throughout the country.

Mr Baffour-Awuah was optimistic that such roads would in addition, open up cocoa growing areas to more economic activities, which would in turn help to improve the living standards of the people and help reduce poverty.

He noted that smuggling of cocoa across the country's borders to neighbouring countries, which was a major setback to increased production, had reduced drastically in the region. The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister however, cautioned that "Considering the huge investments Government is making in the cocoa sector, anyone caught trying to smuggle cocoa will be made to face the full rigours of the law."