Ghana has opened its first farmer-owned cocoa fermentation centre.
The facility, at Offinso in the Ashanti region, will ensure high standards for fine-flavour cocoa produced in the area. Fine-flavour or premium cocoa typically sells for about US$5 000 to US$10 000 per ton on the global market, says Isaac Yaw Opoku, executive director of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG). ‘Our initial soil tests showed that the soil in Offinso supports the fine-flavour cocoa production. We have recently identified soils in Akim Oda and two other districts as perfect for the same exercise so that Ghana’s production level scales higher in the next few years.’
The centre has been handed over to the local Fine Flavour Cocoa Farmers’ Co-operative. According to Alex Opoku Mensah, chairman of the co-operative, the centre brings ‘great relief’ to farmers, adding that it will ‘eliminate theft of cocoa and exposure of cocoa beans to bad weather conditions during the post-harvest processes’.
It is jointly funded by Japanese confectionery supplier Tachibana & Co, US-based Guittard Chocolate Company, Ghanaian cocoa supplier Transroyal Ghana Limited and and the Ghana Cocoa Board, with technical support from the CRIG.
