CEO of the United Arab Emirates Trade Centre, Walid Hareb, has urged Ghana to establish a cocoa trading platform in Dubai.

According to him, the platform, which could be a pilot project, would make Dubai the central point of Ghana’s cocoa, where the raw beans and chocolate could be traded, and help Ghana to access the European and the Arab markets “because the whole world is in Dubai.”

The Dubai businessman made the appeal during a courtesy call by Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on the Undersecretary for the Standard and Legislation Sector of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology of the UAE, Farah Alzarooni, in Dubai.

He noted that many companies in the UAE were using cocoa powder to produce chocolate. “So if we focus on cocoa by giving it a push here, it will help us position Ghana’s cocoa to feed our manufacturing food hub. It would also boost the trade in the product. It will also help grow the trade relations between Ghana and the UAE.”

Dr. Akoto was in the UAE at the invitation of the Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the UAE, Marian bint Mohammed Al Mheiri, to attend a Food for Future Summit and Expo at the just ended Expo 2020 Food, Agriculture and Livelihoods Week.

In his response, Dr. Akoto said such mutual collaboration was significant since it would ensure that Ghana sold cocoa products directly to manufacturers in Dubai.

According to him, Ghana was keen on getting investors to partner, “so that we can consolidate what we have and also expand it.”

Dr. Akoto described the country as a fertile ground for investment where businesses thrive in a peaceful environment.

He, however, acknowledged that despite the successes chalked up by the flagship programmes, there was still much work to be done to maximize opportunities in the sector.

The minister said currently, rice production in the country stood at 622,000 metric tonnes even though demand was 2,450,000 metric tonnes, while demand for soya was 616,200 metric tonnes, out of which the country could only produce 209,000 metric tonnes.

He continued that the demand for tomatoes was 1,048,000 metric tonnes, while the country could produce only 437,526 metric tonnes; poultry sector demand was 375,000 metric tonnes, out of which the country could produce 65,415 metric tonnes, while dairy production was currently at 56,160 metric tonnes, although demand was 466,050 metric tonnes.

Dr. Akoto further said the country had 13.6 million hectares of land suitable for agriculture, with 6.6 million uncultivated, while 1.9 million hectares were designated as the potential for irrigation.

He said there were 6,917 water resources in the country, with soil and agro-ecological conditions suitable for multiple crops and livestock production.

He therefore said investors from the UAE could set up large-scale integrated poultry farms, including feed production, hatchery, packaging, cold storage, and marketing, as well as vaccine and drug production factories in Ghana.