Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare has encouraged the consumption of chocolate and other cocoa-based products.

She said apart from the economic benefits of cocoa, it also has a lot of health benefits.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare gave the encouragement during an official celebration of the National Chocolate Day dubbed “CHOCOFEST” on the theme “CHOCOLATE, A GIFT OF LOVE” in Accra.

She said the day was instituted to coincide with Valentine’s Day to reshape the celebration of Valentine’s Day and to promote the local consumption of chocolate and other cocoa-based products.

She said CHOCOFEST played a key role in the development of Agro-tourism in the country.

She said cocoa based alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages could not be left out of the delight.

She said the event provided a preparatory ground for the chefs to participate in the African Chefs’ Culinary Competition to be held in Ghana as part of the celebration of World Tourism Day, 2016.

“Tourists to the various cocoa farms are taken through the stages of harvesting, fermentation, drying, sifting and other processes that the cocoa beans go through to the point when they are ready for the production of chocolate and other cocoa based products,” she said.

She encouraged companies like Cocoa Processing Company Limited, Cadbury Ghana Limited and Nestle Ghana Limited to open their doors for special guided tours to offer tourists the opportunity to know the processes that their finished products go through during these events.