Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo has disclosed that talks are in the advanced stages to reduce or scrap taxes that are preventing entrepreneurs from venturing into cocoa processing and value addition.
He observed that the taxes are scaring people and even having a negative toll on those who are already in the system and it will be imperative for something to be done about it in order to encourage more Ghanaians to go into value addition for cocoa.
Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo was speaking at the launch of the 2023 National Chocolate Week when he made this known.
He said “Mr. Chairman, we have realized that some current tax regimes are affecting our efforts to get more entrepreneurs into cocoa processing and value addition, especially those who are into small-scale manufacturing. In order to overcome this challenge, discussions are ongoing with the relevant state agencies to have taxes paid by artisanal chocolate manufacturers reduced or scrapped to reduce the cost of operation in order to make them more competitive”.
Apart from the taxes, Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo said he has observed that the skillset for value addition to cocoa is lacking in Ghana and therefore assured stakeholders of the establishment of a Chocolate academy to help polish the skillset of Ghanaians in the industry.
“Another challenge identified in the artisanal chocolate industry is the skill sets of the industry players. I am however happy to report that we have engaged a Belgium chocolate company that will soon set up a chocolate academy to start training and polishing the skills of our chocolate makers.”
Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo used the opportunity to call on the people of Ghana to support the cocoa industry and its value addition because ” increasing consumption is one of the major means of navigating our way out of the challenges”.
