Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has disclosed that the Dangote Group has expressed interest in establishing Ghana as a cocoa-processing hub, with negotiations ongoing over a proposed agreement covering 500,000 metric tonnes of cocoa. Speaking in an interview on Thursday after presenting the 2027 Budget to Parliament, Dr Forson said the potential arrangement could advance the government’s efforts to expand local cocoa processing and increase value addition within the country.
“Dangote has reached out to use Ghana as a hub to process cocoa locally,” he revealed. The minister indicated that discussions were still at the stage of reviewing the proposed terms, adding that the interested company was seeking to formalise the arrangement through a contract. “We are going through the terms, and they want to sign a contract,” he said, without confirming that any agreement had been finalised.
His disclosure followed questions about Ghana’s ability to achieve its cocoa-processing targets of 50 per cent of locally produced cocoa by 2028 and 100 per cent by 2030. Dr Forson stressed the need for Ghana to move away from relying heavily on the export of raw cocoa beans, which are subsequently processed into higher-value products abroad. He recounted his recent visit to Bangkok for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings, where he observed the wide range of cocoa-based products available on the international market.
According to him, the experience reinforced the importance of developing Ghana’s domestic processing capacity to enable the country to benefit more from its cocoa resources. “We are not saying don’t come and buy our cocoa beans, but if you are a company out there, come and buy our cocoa beans, but add value here in Ghana,” he stated.
On whether the government intended to introduce legislation to enforce local processing, the Finance Minister said a new Cocoa Board Act currently before Parliament already contained provisions making domestic processing mandatory. He explained that a legislative instrument (LI) would provide the implementation framework and establish the timeline for achieving the government’s processing targets.
“The LI that will back it will specify that by 2030, by 2030 move from 50 to 100 per cent,” he added. Beyond the cocoa sector, Dr Forson said the government’s agricultural transformation agenda was aimed at strengthening domestic food production and reducing the country’s dependence on imported food commodities. He maintained that Ghana possessed sufficient arable land, water resources and human capacity to significantly expand agricultural production but needed to transition from traditional subsistence farming to modern, large-scale agriculture.
The minister disclosed that Ghana spends approximately US$3.5 billion annually importing food, describing the situation as unsustainable. He questioned why the country continued to rely on imports of essential commodities such as palm oil, sugar, rice and poultry despite having the potential to produce them locally.
Dr Forson also highlighted opportunities to increase domestic production of maize and soybeans for the poultry industry, alongside expanding vegetable cultivation. “All we need to do is modernise agriculture,” he emphasised.
