CEO of COCOBOD, Dr. Randy Abbey, has expressed deep concern over the limited results achieved from a major cocoa rehabilitation initiative, despite the significant financial investment it received.

He revealed that although $263 million was borrowed to restore 156,000 hectares of cocoa farms damaged by disease, only 40,000 hectares had been rehabilitated when he took over leadership.

“If we had successfully done this 156,000 hectares, it would have contributed up to 200,000 tonnes to our production; we took all this money, and all we have to show is just 40,000 hectares completed,” he said, speaking to farmers in Nkawie in the Ashanti Region.

The rehabilitation program was introduced after nearly 40 percent of cocoa farms were found to be infected, prompting urgent intervention by COCOBOD’s previous administration—a move Dr. Abbey said was well-intentioned.

However, he added that the project later received an additional GHS700 million, and he questioned how the funds were applied given the modest progress achieved.

He disclosed that the matter is now under scrutiny by the relevant investigative institutions.

“There are agencies responsible for the investigation of these things. I am saddened by what has happened because it was the golden opportunity to turn things around in the sector,” he noted.

To reverse the trend and bolster production, Dr. Abbey said COCOBOD is currently focused on rehabilitating 21,000 hectares of abandoned cocoa farms.

He affirmed his personal commitment to seeing it through, stating, “We have left some in the bush, and that is what I am trying to go and work on them and be able to hand them over so we can add them to the productive stock of farms we have.”

He also mentioned that the new management inherited road contracts worth GHS21 billion and debt of GHS4.4 billion, posing additional challenges to the sector’s recovery.