Sunyani, Feb. 15, GNA - Mr. Peter Kwaw Sekyin, Brong Ahafo Regional Manager, Quality Control Company Limited of Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), on Monday noted that cocoa generate about one billion dollars in foreign exchange annually.

The commodity also contribute substantially to the Gross Domestic Product and employ approximately eight million people of approximately 80,000 farm families spread over six of the 10 region of a conservative average of 10 people per head, he stated.

Mr. Sekyin said this at a forum to mark the regional celebration of the National Chocolate Day, on the theme: "Made for love each day of the year," with a campaign message of "Expressing your love with chocolate". The forum attracted students of selected Senior High schools in the Sunyani Municipality.

Mr. Sekyin said averagely, 6, 34000 megatons of cocoa was produced in the last four years with Brong Ahafo Region contributing 6500 megatons. The Regional Manager said apart from its economic importance, Ghana's cocoa was used as a yardstick in measuring the quality of cocoa from other parts of the world owning to its quality.

He extolled the activities of farmers and urged them to increase their yield by patronising the use of fertilisers, adopt accepted cultural practices and apply recommended pesticides on their cocoa farms to help achieve the annual national output target of one million metric tons. Mr. Kwaku Kyimah, Deputy Regional Co-ordinating Director appealed to students to stay away from immoral acts and rather study hard to justify the purpose for which they are in school.

Mr. Francis Tapena, Regional Manager, Ghana Tourist Board, said the main purpose of the celebration of the day is to educate the Ghanaian public on the need to consume made in Ghana chocolate to boost the production of cocoa.

The celebration is also to mitigate the negative perception people have about Valentine Day.

The Regional Manager appealed to COCOBOD and the Cocoa Processing Company to help reduce the cost of chocolate to enable majority of Ghanaians to patronise the product.