The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has launched this year’s National Chocolate Week  with a call on the public to join in the effort to promote cocoa consumption in the country.

The launch was organised in partnership with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) in Accra last Friday.

This year’s event is on the theme "Eat Chocolate, Stay Healthy, Grow Ghana" with the sub theme “Chocolate for all: Taste, Share and Care”.

The celebration was instituted by the Ministry of Tourism in 2005 to create awareness of the health benefits of cocoa-based chocolate products.

It was also to promote the consumption of Ghanaian chocolate and increase domestic tourism.

Activities

Activities lined up for the celebration include church visitations, cocoa quiz competition, an exhibition, a programme dubbed “time with schoolchildren”, a visit to the Chief Imam, cocoa communities and paediatric units of regional hospitals.

There would also be a street float and a chocolate feast to be held at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park to climax the celebration on February 14.

National Chocolate Day

At the event, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GTA, Maame Afua Houadjeto, said the celebration was introduced to align with Valentine’s Day as a way of promoting the country’s cocoa-based products.

In a speech read on her behalf, she said collaborative efforts between the GTA and its stakeholders had witnessed a shift in consumer attitudes towards locally produced cocoa products, translating into an increased per capita cocoa consumption from 0.45kg to one kg within the past seven years.

“The gradual shift in consumer attitudes towards locally produced cocoa products has not only raised awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of cocoa but has also celebrated its national, cultural significance and fostered a sense of national pride,” she said.

She thanked stakeholders for their support in promoting the celebration and called on hotels, guest houses and lodgings to incorporate chocolate and cocoa-based products as part of their menus while offering special chocolate - themed dishes and desserts.

“On February 14, all hospitality establishments and Airlines are also encouraged to distribute complimentary chocolates to patrons as a symbol of love and care,” she added.

She also appealed to the public to eat more chocolate and consume more natural cocoa to strengthen their body.

Also in a speech read on his behalf, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Dr Randy Abbey, expressed his commitment to reform the cocoa sector by placing the farmer at the centre of the industry through strategic partnerships, improving productivity of cocoa farms and boosting value addition.

He said promoting cocoa consumption in the country could help boost local demand and create a more sustainable market.

As part of efforts to promote cocoa products, he said President John Dramani Mahama had directed COCOBOD to put in place measures that would ensure that the country increased its export of processed cocoa products rather than the raw cocoa beans.

Dr Abbey, however, added that though the country had installed a domestic processing capacity of 504,780 tonnes, utilising it remained below 50 per cent for most of the existing local processing companies.

To that, he said, the local processing of cocoa must be enhanced through strong collaboration between the government, industry stakeholders as well as the public.

“The government will continue to play a key role by incentivising local domestic cocoa processing, supporting small-scale cocoa processors, and fostering public-private partnerships to improve capacity utilisation,” he said.