COCOBOD rejects claims of Japan’s ban on Ghana’s cocoa: The Ghana COCOBOD has rejected reports that Japan has rejected some cocoa exports to that country due to concerns over the use of prohibited chemicals.
According to COCOBOD, Ghana and Japan have since 2017, signed an agreement on the restricted use of the 24D chemical and Ghana has never compromised on the agreement.
There have been media reports that Japan has rejected some quantities of cocoa due to the use of the prohibited chemical.
But the Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Mr. Noah Amenyah commenting on the issue also stated that Japan has since 2017, also received over 42,000 metric tonnes of cocoa from Ghana, hence the claims cannot be true.
“The attention of COCOBOD was drawn to a 100 tonne consignment to Japan in which 24D was detected in July 2017. As a consequence Quality Control company was alerted and they together with the Cocoa Association of Japan agreed on testing protocols for 24D which now would have added to the cocoa that is being tested for Japanese shipment,” he stated.
“Since then the staff has been undertaking that test and following this Japan has been received over 42,000 metric tonnes of cocoa without failure,” he added.
Mr. Amenyah also explained that the outfit has since the initial agreement, intensified monitoring to avert the use of unapproved chemicals.
“The consignment in question was not returned to Ghana…some farmers were using the chemicals which got detected and therefore the staff of Quality Control Company and Cocoa Health and Extension were asked to intensify farmer education on the appropriate chemicals or weedicides to be used on the farms.
As a result, the CEO of COCOBOD had followed up and in his visits, had told them to repeatedly not to use any unapproved chemicals on the farms rather they should slash…It is therefore not the issue that Ghana’s cocoa has been rejected on the Japanese market,” he further asserted.
Source: Citifmonline
