Produce 1m Tonnes Per Annum Again . . . ICU Tells COCOBOD

The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Mr. Solomon Kotei has appealed to workers of the Ghana Cocoa Board to work assiduously to restore the board’s glory days by producing a million tonnes of the product again.

“The downward trend of cocoa output, in recent times, has been a source of worry to all stakeholders, and we must see ourselves taking back our one million tonnes per annum once more”, he reiterated.

The total production of the crop has been increasing slowly from 450,000 metric tonnes in year 2000, peaking at 1,024,552 metric tonnes in the 2010/2011 crop season
Output however slumped subsequently and the country was able to bag only 690,000 metric tonnes for the 2015/2016 crop season out of a targeted 850,000 metric tonnes.

Ghana’s neighbor, Ivory Coast, produced 1.7 million metric tonnes in the same season.
The shortfall has been attributed to poor managerial policies of the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) and unfavourable weather conditions.

Kotei said the government, management and the union must all alike put their shoulders to the plough to make a positive turnaround for the cocoa industry in Ghana to enable it to be resuscitated to its glorious past as a world leading producer of the product.

Kotei was speaking at the inauguration of the newly elected Local Union Executives of the Ghana Cocoa Board last Friday in Accra.

He urged the executives to lead the way by working hard to coordinate all the union members in the company, to create the needed environment to turn the fortunes and expectations of the workers and the firm around.

The newly elected chairman of the union, Mr. Jones Ofosu-Oduro, assured management of the ICU of his willingness to work prudently and to collaborate with union members to ensure the best for the union.

He said he was prepared to use his position to ensure transparency and financial fairness so as to bring success to the union.