ITALY'S BF INTERNATIONAL EXPLORES INVESTMENT PROSPECTS IN COCOA

Date: 21st July 2026

The Italian Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Laura Ranalli, has led a delegation of prospective investors from BF International to Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to explore strategic areas of cooperation in the Ghanaian economy.

BF International is Italy's largest agricultural group with significant footprints in Africa. The company's niche spans precision farming, digital agriculture, seed genetics, mechanisation, and transforming raw agricultural commodities into processed consumer goods.

​Briefing the management of COCOBOD, H.E. Ranalli disclosed her outfit’s readiness to spearhead new partnerships between the Italian agribusiness community and COCOBOD to promote Ghana's cocoa.

Dubbed the "Cocoa Connect Initiative," the proposed collaboration will bring together public, private, and scientific institutions to move Ghana’s cocoa industry beyond raw bean exports and into semi-finished and finished chocolate products.

At the core of the initiative is a newly envisioned 3,000-hectare mechanised cocoa development zone, which the investors seek to establish in Ghana to power the project.

Responding to the proposal, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Dr. Ransford Anertey Abbey, indicated the Board’s readiness to provide full institutional, agronomic, and technical support toward setting up this technology-driven farm.

​Dr. Abbey lauded the Italian company's desire to invest directly within the Ghanaian economy, noting that both nations stand to leverage their respective strengths to expand global market share and boost local processing capacities.

He emphasised that local value addition sits at the very heart of Ghana's cocoa transformation agenda and assured the delegation that a specialised team of COCOBOD experts would support the investment with research, agronomy, and all necessary technical services.