The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) spent almost a billion Ghana cedis last year to rehabilitate aged cocoa farms and those ravaged by swollen shoot virus disease (SSVD) to help increase national production in the short to medium term.

The money was used to fund the cutting down of diseased and aged cocoa trees, nursing and planting of seedlings, as well as maintaining the rehabilitated farms before handing them over to farmers across the country.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, said the investment in farmers and farms led to the board’s administrative cost increasing to GH¢3.4 billion last year.

Mr Aidoo said that the COCOBOD did not spend GH¢3.4 billion on its head office, saying a chunk of the funds was used to support cocoa production and the welfare of the crop farmers.

According to the Daily Graphic report on Monday, the CEO and his deputy in charge of Finance and Administration, Ray Ankrah, were reacting to reports that COCOBOD’s administrative expenses rose to GH¢3.4 billion last year when cocoa production fell.

“Our audited accounts and the Auditor-General’s report as captured in the 2023 financials show clearly that included in the administrative cost was a GH¢943 million expense incurred on our productivity enhancement programmes (PEPs).”

“The GH¢943 million was actually used to rehabilitate diseased and moribund farms to sustain the livelihood of the affected farmers and increase cocoa production, starting with the 2024/25 season,” the newspaper quoted Mr Ankrah as saying.

GIK/APA