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The Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Hon Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has urged chocolate processing companies in European to come up with innovative cocoa products that will increase the consumption of cocoa and boost international demand.

While addressing the General Assembly of the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa in Zurich, Switzerland, Hon Aidoo mentioned the pressing need to create new cocoa products that will be more attractive to today’s consumer.

He emphasized the point that there has been a lot of effort from all industry players on sustainable production of cocoa and it is time for a lot of attention to be given to sustainable consumption as well.

He pointed out that, there lies a big untapped opportunity in the promotion of cocoa powder in particular, around the world. Cocoa powder consumption can be elevated to the status of tea and coffee, so, that it as well becomes a staple at homes, offices, occasions and cafés; much like the two other beverages.

Among the three beverages; tea, coffee and cocoa; cocoa should reign supreme, he said, but it has instead been relegated to the background. Hence, during occasions and programmes and at homes, tea and coffee are usually the beverages sought after, although, cocoa is delicious and has all the health and all the nutritional benefits. “We need to promote cocoa and cocoa powder, in particular, as an everyday beverage”, he said.

Hon Aidoo advised that as new products are been created the issue of sugar in chocolates, which is dissuading people from consuming more chocolate, must also be addressed promptly to open up the market for the sustainable consumption of the cocoa product.

The COCOBOD Boss also asked the European chocolate processing companies to strongly consider setting up processing companies in Ghana and make the country a hub for their sub-regional operations.

There are many advantages to setting up a processing company in Ghana, he said. Besides the country’s socio-economic stability, there is easy access to the most important raw material for the processing plants, cocoa; of which Ghana produces that highest quality in the world.