Accra, July 14, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday asked stakeholders in the Cocoa Industry to assess whether entrepreneurs were ready to buy and process cocoa research products for both domestic and international markets.

He said such an assessment would demonstrate the practical extent of the benefits to all stakeholders within the industry from the farming community through the industrialists, the merchants, the consumers and government.

President Kufuor was opening a three-day International Workshop on the Utilisation of Cocoa By-Products in Accra.

The Workshop was jointly organised by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).

Under the theme: "Enhancing Farmers' Incomes Through the Processing of Cocoa By-Products" the workshop would discuss the results of the Cocoa By-Products Project in Ghana and its potential benefits for farmers and entrepreneurs.

The Pilot Plant Project began at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) at Akim Tafo in 1992 among other things to develop and transfer technology for the commercial production of cocoa by-products and non-traditional products from cocoa.

Others were to promote farm level production and local use of the by-products, promote the use of cocoa butter for the production of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, soap and also identify and develop by-products and new products from cocoa and other related crops such as sheanuts and coffee.

President Kufuor said such an evaluation, should set the pace for the needed diversification within the industry to enhance maximum returns from cocoa.

He said the bonus to the economy would also be in employment generation, income growth and re-distribution and industrialisation. President Kufuor said government would expect from the workshop inputs that would enhance its policy objectives for the cocoa and manufacturing sectors of the economy.

On the workshop, President Kufuor said the close interaction and cross-fertilisation of ideas generated through such dialogues should expose to the full, the many unexploited opportunities existing in the various sectors of the economy.

"This multi-sectoral approach should produce new strategies to invigorate productive activities for the betterment of the industry", he said.

Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister, who chaired the function, said there was the need for Ghana to join in the crusade against the use of other oils other than cocoa butter in the manufacture of chocolates. He said the producer price of cocoa should be reviewed to benefit the cocoa farmers, while efforts were made to establish more manufacturing companies to utilise the by-products as a means to stabilising the producer price.