Government and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have pledged to support local cocoa processing companies in an effort to ensure that at least 50% of the country’s cocoa is processed.

Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, the board chairman of COCOBOD disclosed this during a familiarization tour of some cocoa processing companies at the Free Zones Enclave in Tema.

The entourage interacted with management of Touton Ghana Limited, Niche Cocoa, BD Associates, Barry Callebaut, Cargill and Cocoa Processing Company, and discussed their challenges and the way forward.

Mr. Owusu-Agyeman assured the local grinders of the Board’s full cooperation and encouraged them to expand their operations to create more jobs for the teeming youth.

“The President, Nana Akufo-Addo announced that we want to increase cocoa production to one million metric tons and also increase the processing of the beans by 50 percent. We can do it,” he added.

At the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), Dr. Frank Asante, the Managing Director of the company disclosed that management was set to submit a proposal to COCOBOD as to how the company could be revamped.

The team later inspected progress of work at a 192 Staff Accommodation Project as well as a 50,000 mt Warehouse facility in Tema.