The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) plans to use a $200 million loan from the World Bank to rejuvenate cocoa farms that have been affected by the cocoa swollen shoot virus in the country.
The decline in cocoa production in the 2020/21 season, from 1.048 million tons to 600,000 metric tons, is attributed to several factors, including the widespread virus, aging plantations, and illegal mining and smuggling activities in the cocoa sector.
The virus has affected approximately 500,000 hectares of farmland globally, resulting in a decrease in cocoa output in Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer.
To address this issue, COCOBOD will take over disease-infested farms, remove and replace sick cocoa trees, and nurture them to a fruiting stage, before returning them to farmers.
According to Dr. Emmanuel Opoku, the Deputy CEO of COCOBOD, the loan will be used to rehabilitate plantations impacted by the virus. This initiative is expected to take six years, with a minimum of five years required to achieve economic production.
Last year, the government secured $132.8 million of the loan, and counterpart funding will support COCOBOD’s farm rehabilitation efforts and contribute to advancing knowledge about the virus strains.
Dr. Opoku emphasised that the rehabilitation process is a long-term endeavor that requires patience, as it takes a minimum of five years to achieve economic production.
Source: Ghanaweb