The Akufo-Addo administration, acting through the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) will inject a USD600-million stimulus package into the cocoa sector through a Cocoa Productivity Enhancement Programme, which is expected to, among other things, step up Ghana’s production to 1.5 million tonnes by 2027, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced on Sunday, 3 November 2019 when he briefed journalists at Peduase, Eastern Region following a Cabinet meeting and retreat.

The stimulus package will target the rehabilitation of plantations, improvement in storage and domestic processing, the stimulation of local consumption as well as efforts to increase output on farms among others.

The programme spans a 7-year period.

The government said it believes cocoa, being a major pillar of Ghana’s economy, cannot be allowed to survive at its own pace.

“Cocoa farmers who have been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy already have good news for 2020 in the cocoa price structure but now get an additional dose through this stimulus package”, he said.