The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has warned of Ghana missing its place on the international market for premier quality cocoa, should managers of the country’s quality control board, relent on pragmatic steps to sustain, if not improve the quality of cocoa.

Speaking during the swearing-in of a board of directors for the Quality Control Company, a subsidiary of COCOBOD, he said “countries which in terms of volumes do much or better than us are also turning to adopt the method that we are using to improve the quality of their beans. And in recent years, Cote D’Ivoire’s quality has been going up because of the adoption of the practices that we have here in Ghana”

“So you have a huge responsibility to see to the operations of the QCC to ensure competitiveness and improvement”, he stressed.

Chairman of the board, Dr. Ebenezer Owusu, who is a Lecturer & Head of Department of Plant & Environmental Biology, University of Ghana, Legon pledged resolve to improve the quality standards of Cocoa in Ghana.

“Our priority is to ensure that we maintain, if not massively elevate our quality control mechanisms to ensure that our cocoa beans remain top-notch as they have remained,” he stated.

The 5-member board include the Board Chair, Dr. Ebenezer Owusu – Lecturer & Head of Department of Plant & Environmental Biology, University of Ghana, Legon; Dr. Barima Afranie – Lecturer at the Department of Pharmacy; University of Ghana; S. B. Kangbere, University of Ghana, Legon; Kwaku Oppong – businessman who is representing the Licensed Buying Cocoa Companies and Julius Mark Kodjo Opoku Martinson, Acting Managing Director of Quality Control