Ghana and Ivory Coast are set to announce the producer price of cocoa. They are the two of the world’s largest producers of Cocoa.
The announcement on Monday will be done simultaneously for the first time. Ghana and Ivory Coast currently produce about 60 percent of global output for cocoa.
The move is to enable the two countries to control price and check the smuggling of the commodity.
The decision to announce the producer price for the commodity simultaneously is part of a twelve point measure agreed on at a meeting in Accra last month.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s Cocobod Joseph Boahen Aidoo says the two nations will soon receive a $1.3 billion facility from the African Development Bank to facilitate growth in their cocoa sector.
“Six hundred million dollars for Ghana, six hundred million dollars for Ivory Coast for the next seven years,” Mr Boahen Aidoo, revealed.
“It’s a long term facility for seven years which gives us more time to pay” he said. Aidoo said “Parts of the money will go into irrigation, cutting down of diseased cocoa trees and planting new ones”.
Ghana recently secured $1.3 million syndicated loan after signing an agreement with some 21 banks in Amsterdam.
Aidoo told journalists that first tranche of $65 million will hit the account of the Bank of Ghana this month.
The second tranche of that facility is expected by the end of November this year.
Source: Africafeeds.com
