Accra, Jan. 27, GNA - Ghana is poised to revolutionise the local cocoa industry and make it the country's top foreign earner again by consolidating its recent achievements and interventions, the new Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) said on Tuesday.

Mr Anthony Fofie, who assumed office on January 1, said in continuing Cocobod's development agenda, he would give priority to farmers' welfare by ensuring that they continued to receive remunerative income for their hard work. "The farmer has always been at the centre of the industry and I am committed not only to ensuring that they benefit in real financial terms, but also motivating them to adopt modern technology available to enhance their work and thereby serve as attraction to the youth," Mr Fofie reiterated. Available records show that Ghana earns about $1.5 billion from cocoa receipts last year.

Mr Fofie, who until his appointment, was a Deputy Chief Executive in-charge of Agronomy and Quality Control, said Cocobod would redesign its extension system for an effective farmers' education to enable them to pursue good husbandry practices for increased yield per hectare. He said his priority includes pursuing Cocobod's medium term target to produce 1 million tonnes of cocoa by 2011, through increased fertilization, improved disease control and sustaining an enhanced farmers' welfare.

"It is achievable and we're about getting there," he added. Specifically, Cocobod will intensify the use of fertilizer especially in Eastern, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, he said. Cocobod has produced an average 680,000 tonnes per year over the last five years. Mr Fofie gave the assurance that in all efforts to increase production, steps would be taken to protect quality of the beans, adding that the Quality Control Division of the Board would be adequately resourced to enable it to play its role effectively. "Particular attention will be paid to measures that will ensure maintenance of prescribed maximum residue levels so as to maintain Ghana's reputation as producer of premium quality cocoa."

On marketing, which has been a critical and sensitive aspect of the industry, Fofie said the Board's subsidiary, Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), would remain the sole body to sell Ghana's beans abroad. "This monopoly will be geared towards ensuring cost-effectiveness, ability to obtain good prices and stimulate the payment of remunerative prices to our farmers," he said, adding that the system will also help the Board in providing collateral for raising offshore loans to finance local purchases. Ghana currently sells its cocoa mainly to buyers in EU countries and part of Asia.

Mr Fofie said besides these traditional markets, the CMC would be encouraged to position itself to take advantage of the potential demand in new emerging markets of South East Asia and Eastern Europe and increase direct shipments to the United States. He said with government support, Cocobod will provide the enabling environment for the establishment of more privately-run processing plants locally, citing the granting of special concessions in the form of discounted beans prices and extended credit for purchases as some of the extended facilities available to local grinders.

Currently, local processing plants enjoy 20 percent discount on light crop bean supplies by Cocobod. Tax concession, Mr Fofie said, could be increased further, especially for companies which would add more value to the beans beyond cocoa nibs and liquor to finished products and relocating outside the Tema and Takoradi enclaves.

Mr Fofie has 34 years' experience in the cocoa industry and succeeds Isaac Osei, who resigned as Chief Executive, effective December 31, 2008, following his election as a Member of Parliament. He graduated from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in 1974 with BSC (Hons) Agric and holds an Executive MBA from the Ghana Institute of Management and Business Administration in addition to an MSc in Agricultural Extension from the University of Reading, United Kingdom (1992).

In March 1981, he was awarded a certificate in Business Management by the Mananga Agricultural Management Centre in Swaziland. He had earlier received a Certificate in Planning and Appraisal of Rural Development Projects from the University of Bradford, UK in 1979. He is a member of a number of local and international bodies, including the Sustainable Tree Crops programme, Tema Chemicals Limited, Cadbury Cocoa Partnership Programme, International Cocoa Verification Board, Impact Ghana Coordination Group - Mars Incorporated. As the Deputy Chief Executive in-charge of Agronomy and Quality Control, Fofie has contributed immensely to Ghana's success story of the cocoa industry, including the recent record production of more than 740,000