Honourable Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister of Food and Agriculture revealed that the ministry is exploring other tree crop alternatives such as rubber, oil palm, coconut, mango, cashew and shea to help generate revenue for development. He noted that cocoa has always played a significant role in the economy however the introduction of other tree crops equal to cocoa can demonstrate higher economic potential.
Cocoa for over a 100 years, is the only tree crop, that generated $2 and a half billion dollars revenue through export production. The ministry is hoping that in the next 8-10 years they will be able to gain money from the new tree crops.
The ministry also hinted the establishment of a new authority, which is the Tree Crop Development Authority, which will look at the 6 non-traditional tree crops such as rubber, oil palm, coconut, mango, cashew and shea in addition to Cocoa. This new initiative will help build the economy through development projects.
The Ghana Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) is developing regulations to govern the production, processing and trading of six major tree crops in a sustainable manner. With the headquarters in Kumasi, the Authority will operate by putting in place policies and programmes to guide research, production, pricing and marketing of the six non-traditional tree crops.