Kampala, Uganda, Feb. 15 - Ghana aims to increase cocoa output to one million metric tons a year in three years through replanting and adoption of improved crop husbandry methods, the deputy chief executive at the state-run Ghana Cocoa Board told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.
Charles Bernard Ntim said that the country is implementing nationwide programs aimed at increasing cocoa yields in order to achieve the output target, speaking at the sidelines of the fifth African Fine Coffee Conference in Kampala, Uganda.
Some of the programs include provision of improved planting materials to farmers, rehabilitation of cocoa plantations, application of fertilizers to restore soil fertility and a replanting program through the country.
Ntim, however, said that the main cocoa regions experienced below normal rains late last year which is likely to affect 2008 cocoa output.
Last year, Ghana produced 600,000 metric tons of cocoa and the board had earlier projected 2008 cocoa output to increase to around 700,000 tons. New estimates for this year haven't yet been released, Ntim added.
Ghana's cocoa board is also in charge of the country's coffee sector and board executives are in Uganda to study the country's coffee sector in a bid to revive it. Ntim said Ghana is trying to reduce its reliance on cocoa as the country's main export crop by promoting coffee growing.
Ghana's annual coffee output is currently estimated at around 5,000 tons from over 40,000 tons in the 1980s. Ntim said that coffee farmers have been abandoning the cultivation of the crop due to lack of clear government policies and volatile global coffee prices.
Ghana is the world's second leading cocoa producer after Ivory Coast.