Ghana’s government plans to acquire 200,000 hectares of land for cocoa plantations by the end of the year as part of efforts to boost production, finance minister Cassiel Ato Forson said.
The world’s No 2 cocoa producer has seen output fall to a two-decade low, partly due to climate change, tree disease and illegal gold mining that has destroyed swathes of its cocoa belt.
Ghana’s ministry of finance said in a statement that the government would acquire cocoa land to complement existing smallholder farmer operations and ensure sustainable growth in the sector.
Forson, who serves on the regulator’s board, stressed the need for bold interventions to address the sharp decline in cocoa production, which has fallen from a peak of 1-million metric tons to about 500,000 tons in recent years.
