The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has observed the celebration of African Union Day.
COCOBOD said the journey to the formation of the African Union (AU) is unity, diversity and progress.
Held annually on May 25th, Africa Day commemorates the day in 1963 that 32 African countries signed the Charter of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which later evolved into the African Union (AU).
The theme for Africa Day 2023 has been selected by the African Union (AU) as “Acceleration of AfCFTA implementation“.
COCOBOD wrote on its Twitter handle: “We come together to commemorate the remarkable journey of unity, diversity, and progress of the African continent”.
COCOBOD also used the occasion to explore the quality of Ghana’s cocoa.
” Happy African Union DAY, penetrating the African market with Ghana’s premium quality cocoa” COCOBod tweeted.
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is a Ghanaian government-controlled institution that fixes the buying price for cocoa in Ghana. Farmers are protected from the volatile prices on the world market through the price-fixing. Besides the higher quality hybrid seeds are sold by the organization and some research on cocoa plant-related diseases are also carried out.
Between 1947 and 1979, the institution was known as the Cocoa Marketing Board.
Background
In 1937, farmers in Gold Coast, a colony of the British Empire equal to contemporary Ghana, refused to continue selling cocoa at the low prices set by European merchants and decided to withhold cocoa from the market. The strike went on for 8 months, until the British government acted by setting up the Nowell Commission of Enquiry to investigate the issue. The Nowell Commission report advised the government to assist cocoa farmers by establishing a Marketing Board.
West African Produce Control Board (1940-1946)
In 1940, the government established the West African Produce Control Board to purchase cocoa under guaranteed prices from all West African countries. It operated throughout World War II and was dissolved in 1946.
Cocoa Marketing Board (1947-1979)
The first attempt to regulate market value and production was in 1947 through the Ghana Marketing Board, which dissolved in 1979 and was reconciled into Ghana Cocoa Board also called Cocobod . The Ghana Marketing Board was established by ordinance in 1947 with the sum of 27 million Ghanaian Cedi as its initial working capital. In 1979, this Board was dissolved and reconstituted as the Ghana Cocoa Board.
Ghana Cocoa Board (1979-)
In 1984 Cocobod underwent institutional reform aimed at subjecting the cocoa sector to market forces. Cocobod’s role was reduced, and 40 percent of its staff, or at least 35,000 employees, were dismissed. Furthermore, the government shifted responsibility for crop transport to the private sector. Subsidies for production inputs (fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and equipment) were removed, and there was a measure of privatization of the processing sector through at least one joint venture. In addition, a new payment system known as the Akuafo Check System was introduced in 1982 at the point of purchase of dried beans.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
