By Francis Ntow, GNA
Accra, Sept 15, GNA – Ghana has unveiled a transformative strategy to fundamentally reshape its cocoa economy by doubling value-chain participation through local processing, manufacturing, and employment expansion.
That move is to position the nation to capture substantially greater economic benefits from its position as the world’s second-largest cocoa producer as it deepens relations with Japan, who imports 70 per cent of its cocoa from Ghana.
The commitment emerged during a forum in Accra on Monday to mark the 100th anniversary Meiji Milk Chocolate, one of the products of Meiji Holdings Co. Ltd, a Japanese food and pharmaceutical company.
Speaking at the forum, Dr Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff, articulated Ghana’s vision for converting its abundant raw cocoa harvests into finished goods, job opportunities, while enhancing farmer incomes.
Ghana consistently produces over 700,000 tonnes of cocoa beans annually, supplying 70 per cent of Japan’s cocoa imports, yet majority of cocoa value, encompassing processing, manufacturing and packaging remained concentrated abroad.
The Chief of Staff explained that the country’s value addition ambition included establishing domestic processing facilities, creating demand for skills and expertise, and contributing to national development on the back of “Ghana earning more from what she grows.”
He said the Government’s 24-hour economic programme represented an institutional framework for coordinating value addition investments across cocoa-dependent sectors, while uniting farmers, factories, transport services, and port operations.
“By integrating these components – establishing reliable supply chains linking farms to factories, and ensuring transport infrastructure can handle increasing domestic processing volumes, and upgrading ports to manage both exported cocoa products and imported manufacturing inputs,” he said.
“Good value chain cannot be called sustainable if the people who grow the crop cannot sustain their families,” he said, urging commitment to address the persistent problem in agricultural value chains where farmers received minimal benefits despite providing the raw material generating all downstream value.
He pledged the government’s commitment to coordinating with both foreign investors and local enterprises to create pathways through which viable value-addition proposals could move from initial discussion through government approval to implementation and delivery.
Mr Francis Danti Kotia, Coordinating Director for Multilateral and International Organisations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said Ghana’s value addition ambition was within the broader context of the Accra Reset Initiative.
The initiative was aimed at addressing fundamental structural economic imbalances limiting Africa’s participation in higher-value segments of global value chains, changing the historical supply of raw materials.
He said the Ghana-Japan economic cooperation provided a concrete model for how value addition could strengthen rather than weaken international trade relationships, citing the century-long operations of Meiji chocolate manufacturers as an example.
He gave the assurance that expanding Ghana’s domestic processing capacity would not threaten the existing partnership, rather it would extend it, processing cocoa into semi-finished products in Ghana, while Japanese manufacturers continued adding their proprietary innovations and quality standards to capture greater value.
Hiroshi Yoshimoto, the Ambassador of Japan to Ghana, said his country’s sourcing of about 70 per cent of cocoa beans from Ghana presented opportunities not only as a source of quality cocoa but as a partner in building more sustainable value chains.
He cited Meiji’s Cocoa Support Programme that promoted sustainable production, farmer support, seedling provision, agroforestry and community support as an example, adding that the company was exploring innovative value creation from under-utilised cocoa materials for bioplastic production.
He said the initiative would create new value from cocoa resources, promote a circular economy, local employment and factory economy, aligning with Ghana’s push to double local value addition.
Katsunari Matsuda, President of Meiji Holdings, said the centenary celebration in Ghana marked an honouring of a longstanding economic friendship, noting that the company’s next 100 years would focus on value addition.
“Our farmer support and local manufacturing footprint provides a model for how quality cocoa can translate into jobs, value creation and health and nutrition within Ghana,” Mr Matsuda said.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Francis Ntow
[email protected]