Robert Le Hunte (middle) addressing the gathering
HFC Bank has organized its first-ever consultative summit on the cocoa sector for stakeholders in Kumasi.
Managing Director of HFC Bank, Robert Le Hunte congratulated Dr. Stephen Opuni, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and his team for introducing the “Youth in Cocoa Farming initiative which seeks to address the challenge of ageing farmers by encouraging more young people to take up cocoa farming.
Mr Le Hunte also announced the bank’s plan to increase its investment in the sector from GH¢90.0 million to GH¢198.1 million, stressing that “the possibility of increased yield per hector presents a viable opportunity for our bank.
Dr. Opuni, who was the special guest of honour at the summit, was full of praise for HFC Bank’s support to the LBC’s and expressed his delight at the bank’s plan to raise its quantum of financial support to all stakeholders along the value chain, saying “this comes as great news to us at COCOBOD, particularly at a time when government’s focus is on sustaining the enabling environment for more private sector participation in the cocoa sector”.
He acknowledged the challenges of an ageing farming population, illegal mining and modernization gap and stated that COCOBOD had instituted some measures to tackle these issues which had yielded positive results across the value chain.
He said Ghana was on course to meet its projected 850,000 tonnes production by the end of 2016.
The seminar was attended by various businesses within the cocoa value chain, including cocoa farmers, LBC, haulage institutions, agro-chemical institutions and Cocobod.
The participants were given insights on the bank’s financial proposition for the industry.
HFC Bank has consistently supported development in various sectors, with the most recent being its support for youth athletics in Ghana.
In June, this year, the bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to provide support for the Youth Athletics Festival with an initial amount of GH¢125,000.
The support for youth athletics and the cocoa industry is the bank’s way of ensuring the development of Ghana’s human and natural resources.
A business desk report