…Ghana’s total exports to The Netherlands in all sectors hit US$852m
The Netherlands government has said it will continue to invest in the transformation of Ghana’s cocoa sector by deepening trade in the commodity’s export to that country.
Being Ghana’s single largest cocoa export market, The Netherlands boasts 85 percent of cocoa trade from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
Ghana has, in the last five years, exported more than 700 million kilogram of beans, exceeding previous years’ record
A report by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) indicates that the total value of chocolate and semi-finished products including cocoa butter produced in that country and exported in the last five years, reached more than €4.8 billion.
Currently, the Netherlands stands as Ghana’s fifth export destinations with US$852 million, in all sectors, after China, India, UAE and Switzerland in that order.
However, the Dutch Agriculture Counselor for West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire), Bram Wits, told the Goldstreet Business that his country have a lot more investment to make in cocoa, regarding the purchase of the commodity and its production here.
Instructively, the Netherlands has, over the years, undertaken investment drives which have fairly improved the lots of cocoa farmers in the country.
“We have set up 20 Rural Service Centres in Ghana which serve as a one-stop shop for services for cocoa farmers. The centres train cocoa farmers on good practices and provides them agro inputs and planting materials, as well as labour and financial services. Though we are making significant investments in other areas in the agricultural sector, the cocoa industry is something we’ll be looking at for a long time,” Wits said.
The Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP) which is another intervention from the Dutch government, also strengthens the cocoa value chain by addressing issues of productivity and service delivery.
The project improves sustainable cocoa production and increases some economic returns for cocoa farmers, nationwide.
“Through that initiative, almost 40,000 farmers have improved their productivity and income by doubling their yields since 2013,” he said.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe