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President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, has announced an ambitious plan to increase Ghana’s domestic cocoa processing to 50% within the next four to five years, matching or even surpassing the current benchmark set by neighboring Côte d’Ivoire.
Speaking during a presidential session at the 60th Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the 51st Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund (ADF) in Abidjan, President Mahama disclosed the importance of value addition as a pathway to economic transformation in Africa.
President Mahama pointed to Ghana’s progress in domestic cocoa processing while highlighting structural trade obstacles that continue to hinder African economies. He also highlighted the structural challenges African nations face when trying to export processed products to global markets.
He stressed the need to support indigenous entrepreneurs in the cocoa processing sector, stating that many face significant hurdles navigating international regulatory frameworks compared to foreign companie
“Sometimes you notice that the world economic order is rigged against Africa. We can increase processing overnight but you have non-tariff barriers in exporting into some of the markets. Unless they bring a processor from outside, from Europe who comes and sets up a processing plant and gets all the regulatory things in place, an indigenous person setting up a processing plant sometimes has a very big difficulty exporting finished products into the EU market and into the American market.” He said.
“I must say that we’ve made progress. From a low of 25 % processed cocoa, Ghana has risen to about 40%, and I know Côte d’Ivoire is ahead of us. Côte d’Ivoire has done 50%, which is comfortable, and so 50 % of Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa is processed domestically. Ghana is at 40 percent. We hope that over the next four five years we’ll reach the stage of Cote d’Ivoire at 50 percent and push even further.”
Source: Elvisanokyenews.net
