The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) announced yesterday that the 2003/04 cocoa season raked in the highest revenue from the biggest harvest ever.

A statement signed by the Chief Executive of Cocobod said the crop season, which ended in September last year saw a total harvest of 734,699 tonnes of cocoa beans. "This is the highest production in the history of the cocoa industry since cocoa production became a commercial activity in Ghana more than 100 years ago," it said. Ghana is the world's second largest producer of cocoa after C?te d'Ivoire.

The second highest volume of 580,869 tonnes was recorded during the 1964/65 crop season. The statement said the volume of the beans fetched a CIF value of 1.204 billion dollars or FOB value of 1.156 billion dollars. "This is the highest export revenue ever achieved by the cocoa sub-sector of the Ghanaian economy."

The statement said the closest to this record achievement was an FOB value of 889.711 million dollars in 2002/03 season. The normal export receipts for most years has been ranged between 300 million and 400 million dollars.