COCOBOD made GH₵2bn profit in 2022/2023 – CEO

The Chief Executive Officer of Cocoa Board (Cocobod), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has revealed that his outfit has made a significant profit of over GH₵2 billion for the 2022/2023 fiscal year.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr Aidoo said despite the financial challenges he faced when he assumed office, Cocobod has turned the corner to rake in more revenue for the industry.

“Today, the industry has survived and Cocobod today is healthy. In 2022/2023, we made over GH₵2 billion in profit. Currently, it is at the management level; once it passes through the board, it will be published and everybody will know. So we’ve turned things around,” he indicated.

His revelation is a stark contrast to Cocobod’s financial performance in 2021 when it recorded a loss of GH₵2 billion.

Mr Aidoo explained that this loss was the result of a strategic decision to maintain farmer payments despite the organisation’s financial strain.

“It was a nationally prudent decision that Cocobod maintained the money it paid to farmers which resulted in losses for Cocobod.

“This is because we were torn between the national interest and the Cocobod interest. The national interest here is the cocoa industry itself.”

Describing the cocoa industry as Ghana’s backbone and oxygen, the CEO noted that Cocobod was therefore justified to prioritise national interest over Cocobod’s immediate financial interests to prevent further erosion of the cocoa farming sector.

“If we chose the interest of Cocobod, the only thing we could have done was to reduce the farmer’s price at a time when illegal mining was about to explode, at a time when farmers were cutting cocoa in the Brong Ahafo region to cultivate cashew, in the Eastern Region, farmers were cutting down cocoa to cultivate rubber. And we all know the Eastern Region has the best soils in Ghana to cultivate cocoa,” he noted.

“Put yourself in my shoes at the time, what would you have done? Or would you have borrowed to make sure the industry survived?” he quizzed.

According to the Cocobod CEO, the sector has been ravaged by adverse weather, bean disease and illegal gold mining, which often displaces cocoa farms.

Meanwhile, Ghanian farmers are also smuggling more beans to neighbouring countries to sell them at higher prices than the state purchasing price, further eroding what little crop is available for delivery in Ghana.

According to reports, the world’s second largest cocoa producer is looking to delay delivery of up to 350,000 tons of beans to next season due to poor crops.

Chocolate makers around the world are raising prices for consumers after cocoa more than doubled in value this year alone following a third year of poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast, responsible for 60% of global production.