Oti Regional Minister, Joshua Makubu says cocoa smuggling is delaying road projects in the region.

According to him, the farmers in the region have complained that local buying companies are unable to purchase their cocoa because of a lack of funds.

Mr Yakubu stated that he will work with the Ghana Cocoa Board to ensure that the necessary funding is available to support the local cocoa industry.

The Minister was speaking during a sensitisation programme ahead of a reaffirmation exercise by the Ghana Boundary Commission to replace all destroyed boundary pillars in the region.

“In 2019, Volta and Oti used to contribute about 8,000 tons to the cocoa stock in Ghana but as we speak now are struggling to even make 100 tons.”

In order to address the problem of cocoa smuggling, Makabu said that the regional security system would seize cocoa being smuggled out of the region and impound the trucks being used for smuggling.

He also said that smugglers would face penalties for their actions.

The minister noted that the Oti Region's contribution to the national cocoa stock has been negatively affected by cocoa smuggling, which has an effect on the country's overall cocoa revenue and the funding available for projects in various regions.

 “So long as the Cocoa Board is not liquid enough to be able to continue the various cocoa road projects then Oti region is also being affected. If you come to the Guan region, we have cocoa road projects that have been abandoned.”

"Several other cocoa roads are stalled due to lack of funding and the smuggling is a contributing factor. It is inhibiting our progress."

According to the Oti regional minister, the National Security has made some level of progress which is not satisfactory.

He noted that, he would work with the National Security and the community leaders to ensure that they “return to our past glory of contributing not less than 9000 tons to the cocoa stock in the country.”