<<Print>>

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will organise a Cocoa Recipe Cooking competition among students from all the 10 technical universities and polytechnics on September 22 to showcase the various uses of cocoa.

Plans are also in place to ensure that cocoa drink is served at all national functions while it will soon be served as part of the School Feeding Programme.

These are part of steps being taken to promote local consumption of cocoa.

The Senior Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Noah Amenya, made this known in Kumasi to outline activities lined up to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the organisation.

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) was established in October 1947 as the statutory regulator of the cocoa production and marketing sector.

It has many subsidiaries, including the Quality Control Division, Cocoa Health and Extension Division, and the Cocoa Marketing Company.

COCOBOD has since its establishment played no mean a role in cocoa production in the country, making Ghana the second highest producer of the commodity globally, with the beans from the West African nation the most sought after at the international level due to the high quality.

It cannot also be lost on anybody that the company has also endured some challenges during the period.

It is, therefore, worthwhile that the management has planned a number of activities to commemorate this feat, on the theme ‘70 Years on; Mobilising for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy’.

The activities will start from September 22 with the Cocoa Recipe Cooking Competition among students from the country's technical universities and polytechnics at the University of Ghana in Accra.

The participants will use cocoa to prepare various dishes to showcase the other uses of the commodity aside from what the public is already aware of. Among the events earmarked for the celebration are an exhibition of cocoa and cocoa-related products by stakeholders in the cocoa production and marketing value chain, and a public lecture to highlight the medicinal value of cocoa.

The climax will be a grand durbar in Kumasi, during which President Nana Akufo-Addo will formally outdoor the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, as the National Cocoa Consumption Ambassador.
The Senior Manager of Public Affairs of COCOBOD, Noah Amenyah, said the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, will be the Guest of Honour at the durbar, which has been planned to coincide with this year's World Cocoa Day.

Amenyah disclosed that very soon it will be a national policy for cocoa drinks to be served at all state functions and also become part of the School Feeding Programme.

All these are measures being taken to promote local consumption of cocoa. In another development, COCOBOD has officially closed the 2016/2017 cocoa season, effective Thursday September 14.

Noah Amenyah, who disclosed this in Kumasi, said the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) have up to September 19 to clear all their stock.