By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Feb. 13, GNA – Nana Agyemang Ansong, the Sales and Marketing Manager for the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), has said that the consumption of cocoa products in Ghana must reach a point where “Ghanaians must look cocoa.”
Mr Ansong, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said when visitors come to Ghana, the first thing that must strike them is that the people are healthy, and this could only be achieved with the promotion of the consumption of cocoa products.
“Ghanaians must look cocoa, to the extent that the first thing that strikes you when you enter Ghana is that the people look healthy.”
He said prior to the Chocolate Day initiative in 2005, the per capita consumption rate of chocolates among Ghanaians was extremely low, pegged at below half a kilo, as consuming chocolate was very unpopular among the populace.
He disclosed that with the help of the media and other promotional activities by CPC, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), and Ghana COCOBOD, among other stakeholders, the per capita consumption of chocolate and cocoa products is now above one kilogramme per head annually.
“It means that almost every Ghanaian is beginning to eat at least one kilogramme of cocoa per year; even though it is still low, it has improved significantly,” he said.
He said it was the dream of CPC to increase this figure to about 2.5 to three kilogrammes per year per person, adding that Ghanaians, especially children, must make chocolate products a staple and consume them constantly to derive their full health benefits.
Mr. Ansong stated that CPC has products to meet everybody’s taste, whether they want to chew, drink, spread, or bite, adding that for the 2024 chocolate and Valentine’s Day celebrations, they have produced enough products for every member of the 30 million population to get at least 100 grammes of chocolate for the week.
He said their challenge, however, was their inability to produce even more than they have, noting that “we wish we could produce more, our ability to expand our factory to produce more chocolate products for Ghana, West Africa, Africa, and even beyond the continent.”
Touching on some activities to mark the week-long Chocolate Day celebration, he said that alongside some collaborative lined-up programmes between the company, GTA, and COCOBOD, the CPC would provide inmates of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital with chocolate drinks.
Also, the CPC, in collaboration the Ghana Free Zones Authority, would be feeding 500,000 children with Alltime Chocolate Drink.
The Accra Technical University’s Food Department would also develop chocolate cuisine as part of the celebrations.
The Sales and Marketing Manager added further, that, in line with their 2024 theme “Eat Cocoa, Grow Ghana,” free chocolate drinks would be provided at its regional offices to give cocoa farmers the opportunity to taste their produce.
The National Chocolate Day, which was an initiative by the late Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, the then Minister of Tourism, in 2005, coincides with Valentine’s Day and has the objective of boosting the consumption of Ghana’s cocoa and its products.
GNA