Ghana expects to produce 900,000 tonnes of cocoa in the 2016/17 season starting in October, up from 850,000 this season, cocoa industry regulator Cocobod said on Monday.
The forecast comes as the government seeks to improve crop yields by distr
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| Cocoa beans |
"For the first time, we have almost finished the distribution of fertilisers to farmers ahead of time and we have also begun distributing high-yielding hybrid seedlings," said Cocobod spokesman Noah Amenyah.
Ghana, the world's second-largest cocoa producer behind Ivory Coast, runs a two-cycle cocoa season comprising the major October-May harvest, which is mainly exported, and the light crop production, which is discounted to local grinders.
Cocoa output so far this season, which was hampered by a dry start, is estimated at about 720,000 tonnes. The West African nation is on course to meet its 850,000 tonne target, government and Cocobod sources told Reuters.
Cocobod plans to raise up to $2 billion from a syndication of international lenders for 2016/17 crop purchases, deputy Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Reuters on Monday, up from $1.8 billion previously.
"We have laid the papers before Parliament for approval so we can proceed with the negotiations for the loan," Forson said.
Ghana runs a semi-liberalised cocoa marketing system in which Cocobod distributes money to licensed purchasers to buy the crop on its behalf on a commission basis.
*First published by Reuters
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