Joseph Nelson
DAILY GUIDE has gathered that cocoa processing companies in the Western Region are experiencing severe cocoa beans shortage, which is adversely affecting their production.
The paper learnt that currently, the demand for cocoa beans for processing into finished products by the processing companies is exceeding supply.
The companies have therefore appealed to the government to adopt pragmatic measures required to make available the cocoa beans to enable them stay in business.
Recently when the Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, visited one of the cocoa processing companies in the region, Plot Enterprise Ghana Limited, the management confirmed the shortage.
The company could not fathom why Ghana, the world’s second-largest producer of cocoa, is not able to provide adequate supply of cocoa beans for the factories for improved production.
The Plant Manager of Plot Enterprise, Alfred Ampah, described the situation as an unfortunate development and stressed that government has to do something about the problem.
“Currently, part of the production lines of the company has been shut down due to the shortage of the cocoa beans,” he indicated.
For his part, the General Manager of the company, Michael Arhin Darlington, bemoaned the unfortunate development.
He also appealed to the government to help resolve the long-standing industry challenge.
The Western Regional Minister assured that the sector minister would work assiduously with relevant stakeholders to address the problem.
A source at West African Mills Company Limited (WAMCo), another cocoa processing company in the region also noted that the company is facing similar challenge.
The source however, disclosed that “Actually, we have some bean stocks, but demand for finished products is also down”.
Meanwhile, the shortage of the beans for processing has been attributed to several factors including diseases such as swollen shoot virus and black pod.
The issue of climate change has also led to poor weather conditions, further impacting cocoa production in popular cocoa-growing communities in Ghana.
Aside that, deforestation and illegal mining activities have also been blamed for the decline in cocoa production.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi