GHANA CONTINUES TO BE AN IMPORTANT FORCE IN GLOBAL COCOA TRADE - BARRY CALLEBAUT

Date: 31st October 2023

The newly appointed Vice President for Africa in charge of cocoa at Barry Callebaut, Emmanuel Toureille has reaffirmed Ghana's position as the beacon of quality cocoa, playing an important role in the global cocoa trade. He said this global niche is a pre-requisite for strengthening collaboration with Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to ensure transparency and sustainability of the cocoa sector.

In his maiden meeting with COCOBOD Management at Cocoa House in Accra, Mr Toureille expressed satisfaction with efforts between his outfit and COCOBOD which have, over the years, recorded significant improvements, especially in areas of traceability programmes, cocoa farmer’s welfare schemes, and trade development policies.

According to him, Ghana is an important collaborator in the global cocoa economy and will continue to be the origin of extreme importance to industry players, especially Barry Callebaut. 

“To this effect, it is important that both the regulatory party and trader work hand in hand to confront the challenges. It is only through effective collaboration that we would be able to achieve common goals in the interest of all stakeholders”, he reiterated. 

He added that available data indicate that Ghana has shown commitment to the cause for sustainability by taking the lead to implement productivity enhancement programmes and going further to initiate the adoption and compliance of international trade and export regulations compared to other cocoa-producing countries.

“Barry Callebaut would ensure that it provides the necessary technical backstopping where needed to COCOBOD, especially in the implementation of projects like the Cocoa Management system (CMS) to ensure the synchronization of data. My outfit will be a 100% critical partner with COCOBOD to ensure success”, he assured.

Speaking at the meeting, the Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Operations at COCOBOD, Dr. Emmanuel Opoku conveyed Management’s satisfactory sentiments, to continue the collaborative ventures in critical areas of the cocoa sector specifically in the domains of research, cocoa farmer welfare improvement schemes and traceability to ensure compliance to the modified EU Regulations.

Dr. Opoku indicated that flagship programmes like the CMS, have been a robust and costly venture for implementation, and the Management of COCOBOD would need the support of all to ensure their successful outcomes.  He called on partners, especially chocolatiers and License Buying Companies (LBCs) to pay the prevailing market prices and premiums due to farmers to improve their welfare.

On his part, the Deputy Chief Executive for Agronomy and Quality Control, Dr Ebenezer Owusu highlighted the need for industry stakeholders to always ensure that differences are ironed out for the betterment of the sector. He added that the Board would avail itself for deliberations and negotiations on critical areas of cocoa production where necessary.