(Ecofin Agency) - The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) plans to secure a $750 million loan for project that aims to rehabilitate cocoa farms in the country, Bloomberg reported. The monies will be mobilized by the beginning of 2018 from local and international banks and will be used to finance the uprooting of about 400,000 hectares of cocoa farms over the next five to eight years.

“About a fifth of Ghana’s cocoa tree stock is affected by swollen shoot disease, a virus which reduces yields and kills a plant within three to four years, while another quarter are old and unproductive,” said Joseph Aidoo (picture), Chief executive of the Cocobod.

According to the official, the move will affect output expected in 2017/18 season (850,000 tons) and will actually help boost future cocoa outputs.

This initiative is the second of its kind, announced this year by the Cocobod. Indeed, another was announced in April and involved the treatment and rehabilitation of 10,000 hectares of cocoa farms in the North Western and Eastern regions of the country.   

Espoir Olodo