Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia launches the Cocoa Management System (CMS), sends cocoa to digital

The Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the Cocoa Management System (CMS); an integrated data management platform on cocoa farmers and other stakeholders in Ghana’s cocoa sector, which will be managed by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).

The CMS will aid the cost-effective implementation of policies and the delivery of major interventions in the cocoa sector, such as, the cocoa farmer pension scheme.

While performing the launch at a ceremony held on Friday, 23rd October 2020 at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, the Vice President called the CMS a “fantastic” achievement for COCOBOD.

He went on to remark that it is “a landmark development in Ghana” which seamlessly ties into the government’s goal to “make Ghana the most digitised economy in Africa within the next two years”.

Dr. Bawumia noted that the cocoa industry, which accounts for about 2.5% of Ghana’s GDP and about 25% of the foreign exchange earnings, at present overly relies on cash transactions. About GH₵15 billion is paid in cash every year to cocoa farmers and other stakeholders in the industry, and there are a lot of risks associated with such transactions.

Added to that, the industry lacks accurate data on cocoa farmers, their farms’ sizes, the ages of their cocoa trees, the average harvest of farmers, among others. Farmers, he said, have not been precisely identified and map to their farms.

“All these information gaps must be closed soonest,” the Vice President urged, “and we must take advantage of technology to do that. At the same time issues of certification and training or speciality are increasingly coming to the fore. Without reliably categorised data, new cocoa products cannot be created and marketed for higher value.”

He touted the CMS as the innovative solution to the data challenge and its ensuant inefficiencies. When fully operational, the CMS will help COCOBOD to better manage Ghana’s cocoa industry.

“For the first time, every programme, every policy intervention, plan and projection, every infrastructural project needed in cocoa-growing areas will be based on verified data,” Dr. Bawumia said. It will also pave the way for the successful implementation of the cocoa farmers pension scheme which is soon to be launched.

“The cocoa management system is going to build a database of all cocoa farmers in the entire country and on all cocoa transactions. From the census of the farmers to farm ownership to input supplies to records of harvests, buying agents and all transactions.”

The Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Hon Joseph Boahen Aidoo, stated that, the CMS will strengthen the operations of COCOBOD and make transactions safer. It will also help to monitor and gather accurate information on the issues of child labour and deforestation, which are often raised by international buyers and stakeholders of Ghana’s cocoa.

He urged all stakeholders in the industry, especially, cocoa farmers to cooperate with COCOBOD as it gathers data to begin the process of digitising the industry.