The newly appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Dr. Ransford Abbey, has pledged to prioritise the prompt payment for cocoa purchases while ensuring transparency in industry transactions.
Speaking to the media after his maiden engagement with cocoa farmers, Dr Abbey stressed the critical importance of placing farmers at the core of the sector’s activities.
He noted that his leadership will focus on addressing longstanding concerns of farmers to enhance their livelihoods and sustain Ghana’s position as a leading cocoa producer.
Dr. Abbey’s assurance comes at a time when the cocoa sector faces challenges such as delayed payments and increasing production costs, issues he said will be tackled with urgency and transparency.
“We will be extremely transparent and let them know what the situation is, but the assurance is that we will prioritise payment of Cocoa over other things. If we have to make any payment when funds are available, prioritizing the payment of Cocoa which makes farmers make money is our top priority and that first before anything else.”
He also added that efforts are underway together with the National Security to scale up efforts to combat issues of smuggling.
“We are collaborating with national security. We’ve had several meetings with the national security adviser and the coordinator is very interested they have prioritized this issue and put together a team that is working with us, and we are really going to tackle it head-on. we are working together with the national security and we believe that we will be able to deal with it.”
