The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr. Isaac Osei, has dismissed reports that Japan had rejected about 2,000 metric tons of cocoa from Ghana because of its high chemical content.

Speaking at a meeting with the Executive Director of the International Cocoa Organization, Mr. Osei assured consumers of Ghana’s cocoa, particularly the international cocoa market that Ghana’s cocoa is still of premium quality saying his organization will spare no effort to maintain it.

Mr. Osei explained that the reported consignment from Ghana arrived in Japan just at the time the country had raised its grading standards and had set new residual limits and said it was not only Ghana’s cocoa that was affected.
He said while most international cocoa buyers, including those in Europe, determined the quality of the commodity by testing the beans, the Japanese were conducting their test on the shells. He called for a uniform standard of testing the commodity in order to eliminate disparities in the grading system.

This not withstanding, Mr. Osei said COCOBOD is committed to reducing the level of chemical residue in its cocoa and has scaled up its education of the various parties in the production chain, especially the farmers, to adhere strictly to the limits of chemical application.

He said to further improve on the premium quality of cocoa from Ghana, COCOBOD is working with research institutions to develop a domestic capacity for the use of alternative pesticides that are universally accepted.

Mr Osei also touched on the global campaign to rid the industry of child labour and said although the phenomenon was not pronounced in Ghana; COCOBOD had rolled out a programme with the farmers to eliminate any such practices.

According to him, the implementation of the school capitation grant and feeding system are some of the incentives that would help draw the affected children to the classroom.