The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has received the first tranche of $200 million out of the $600 million syndicated loan facility it signed with a consortium of development finance institutions.
The amount is expected to be used to finance productivity enhancement programmes in the cocoa industry.
At the launch of the facility in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, said the loan would support the board to strengthen the cocoa value chain, help alleviate poverty by increasing productivity and promote a progressive cocoa consumption environment.
The launch was attended by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto; the Board Chairman of COCOBOD, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang; the Ambassador of Japan to Ghana, Mr Tsutomu Himeno; the Ambassador of Italy to Ghana, Mr Giovanni Favilli, and the High Commissioner of South Africa to Ghana, Ms Lulama Xingwana.
“I must put on record that with our own resources, significant progress has been made in our collective resolve to implement various Productivity Enhancement Programmes (PEPs) to increase yield per hectare to at least 1,000 kilogrammes”.
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