Parliament has approved a $800 million cocoa syndicated loan for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to purchase cocoa from farmers.

The approved loan will be used to purchase about 47 percent of the projected 850,000 tonnes of cocoa beans from farmers through the Licensed Buying Companies for the 2023/2024 cocoa season.

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson noted that his side would have voted against the cocoa syndicated loan, if not for the pain it would have caused cocoa farmers.

This, he said is because of the tendency for COCOBOD to go into negative equity if aggressive measures are not taken to rein in the institution.

Dr Forson explained that “the matter is so severe that the IMF had a reason to report in the official document that went to the IMF Board that, the government must immediately prepare a policy document to turn around COCOBOD.”

“The truth is that this loan as I sit here, I am approving it largely because of the farmers other than that, this is a matter that we should have rejected. We should have rejected it and get COCOBOD to do some due diligence in the way they are managing the affairs of COCOBOD,” he said.

But speaking during the consideration of an $800 million facility to purchase cocoa from farmers, the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong attributed the losses to COCOBOD's commitment to the roads sector and also payments to keep the lights on.

He also highlighted the construction of 5,000 kilometres of roads throughout the country which has landed COCOBOD in crisis.

“If we, the people expect COCOBOD to be paying for our lights to be on, for roads to be constructed, if we expect COCOBOD to cut down on cocoa trees and rehabilitate them so that the farmers would have their cocoa farms back, and by the strength of that liability weighs down COCOBOD, then, we the people cannot turn back and say that COCOBOD has collapsed.

"We put the burden on COCOBOD and we have to make a decision whether to keep the books clean or have the roads constructed and put the lights on,” he stressed.