The 2022 national cocoa week celebration has been launched at Mampong in the Eastern region. The event, which was held on the theme: “Eat chocolate, stay healthy, grow Ghana” with the sub-theme: “Our chocolate, our health, our world will be a week-long celebration, starting from February 12 to 22, 2022.
It is aimed at promoting domestic consumption of locally made chocolate and other cocoa products, as it highlights the health benefits of cocoa and the economic potential of the cocoa value chain. The programme is the initiative of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC). As part of the event, there will also be a cocoa health walk, a float, a donation, durbar and exhibition, a movie premiere, among others.
Significance
The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who launched the programme, said the event was instituted to promote the local consumption of chocolate and other cocoa products as part of the efforts to make chocolate a gift of choice, not only on Valentine’s Day but also on all occasions.
“Exactly one year ago, I launched the maiden edition of the National Chocolate Week, on behalf of the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in Accra.
“I am happy to announce that our objective for the week-long celebration was highly achieved, breathing new life into our national cocoa consumption drive and giving us enough cause to do more and achieve more.
“Ghanaians from all walks of life, irrespective of their political religious or ethnic affiliations fully participated in the celebration with zeal and enthusiasm,” he said.
The minister said the support from the stakeholders, including COCOBOD, the GTA, cocoa processors and financial institutions, towards the 2021 campaign contributed in moving Ghana’s per capita cocoa consumption up, closer to the one kilogramme target set in 2017.
He, however, said despite the relative improvement in Ghana’s quest to become a cocoa consumption nation, it’s current per capita consumption, which hovers around 0.55 kilogramme, was still nowhere near what existed in Europe and America, which mainly bought Ghana’s cocoa beans. “It is for this reason that we deem it necessary to sustain the national cocoa consumption campaign at all costs,” the minister added.
Gratitude
The Paramount Chief of the Akuapem Mampong Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwame Ottu III expressed gratitude to COCOBOD and the GTA for the choice of Mampong as the venue for the launch.
He said the decision to launch the 2022 Chocolate week at Mampong particularly on the Tetteh Quarshie Farm, was appropriate, laudable and deserves the highest commendation according to the chief the history of Coco could not be told without a reference to where the late plants are the first cuckoo seed over the years we have seen great efforts by in GTA 2 repackaged farm into a tourist site and we wish to use this opportunity to thank them for the decision” he said.
