The Ghana Cocoa Board has set a production target of one million metric tons of cocoa to be attained by 2012. This is to enable Ghana to reclaim the number one position in global cocoa production from the anticipated 670 thousand metric tons of cocoa to be produced this season.

The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nii Amasah Namoale announced this at an awards ceremony for 39 farmers and 300 purchasing clerks of Olam Ghana Limited, a Licensed Buying Company at Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region.

They were awarded for their hard work and dedication to duty. They received Wellington Boots, wrist watches, television sets, TV decorders, mobile phones, knapsack sprayers and sound systems. Nii Amasah Namoale explained that for Ghana to achieve the stated target for 2012, productivity needs to be improved from the current 500 kilograms per hectare of cocoa farm to compete with Cote d’Ivoire’s 800 kilograms per hectare and Indonesia’s one thousand 200 kilograms per hectare.

In line with this, government is tackling the constraints which have over the years held the country’s cocoa industry back. He mentioned some of the constraints as disease and pest control, infrastructural development, housing scheme and social security for farmers among others.

He gave the assurance that government will continue to collaborate with the Ghana Cocoa Board to ensure that cocoa farmers get the requisite inputs and technical support in order to increase productivity.