Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, the Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, said this during the opening of the fourth International Coconut Festival in Accra on Monday.

She said the country’s coconut industry held prospects for job creation and raking-in huge foreign exchange earnings.

Therefore, to maintain and expand our presence in the global market, we must embrace innovation across the value chain by adopting modern farming techniques and improved seed varieties to advanced processing technologies and creative products development" Dr. Asabea  Asare pointed out.

The CEO of GEPA said the Authority was committed to supporting the coconut industry by providing platforms for capacity building, research and technological advancement to ensure that Ghanaian coconut products remain competitive and sustainable.

The Authority, she said, had supplied one million improved seedlings to coconut farmers in the Volta, Western and Central regions to boost crop yield.

The three-day Coconut Festival started on Monday, October 21 and will end on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, being held on the theme “Empowering Lives through Coconut: Innovation, Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods”

 It is being organised by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority and Tree Crop

Development Authority (TCDA), serving as a platform to dialogue about the opportunities in the coconut sector and explore the potential for economic prosperity.

The event brought together coconut farmers, students, researchers, policymakers, marketers and exhibitors, who showcased various coconut products in an exhibition at the foyer of the Accra International Conference Centre.

Ghana is currently Africa’s number one coconut exporter and ranked 12th globally, producing over 500,000 metric tonnes of coconut annually. In 2022, the country raked-in $15 billion from coconut export and has envisaged rake-in $25.3 billion by 2029.

Dr. Asabea Asare said ”GEPA is happy to be driving this coconut agenda in close collaboration with the African Coconut Group and the Tree Crop Development Authority with support from Solidaridad and the Ghana Import and Export Bank Coconut is truly a remarkable crop - often referred to as the “tree of life” - due to its immense versatility and numerous uses across industries.From food and beverages to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and even construction materials, the coconut is central to many value-added industries.

"In Ghana, the coconut sector is one of the prioritised sectors in the National Export Development Strategy, providing significant employment opportunities and contributing to rural development, poverty reduction, and foreign exchange earnings" she recalled.

Dr. Asabea Asare said coconut was more than just a crop in Ghana, but represented a pathway to sustainable livelihoods, innovation, and employment for thousands of the youth.

In 2017, GEPA launched the coconut revitalisation intervention with a clear objective of reviving the then ailing coconut industry to improve the supply capacity of the value chain having realised the growing demand trend for coconut globally, she said.

She said GEPA had made modest but quite significant investments in the coconut sector since 2017 by procuring and distributing disease-tolerant coconut seedlings to coconut farmers across the major coconut growing regions of the Volta, Eastern, Western, Central and Asante.

So far, it has distributed over a million seedlings covering fifteen thousand six and twenty-five acres generating about 350,000 employments within the coconut value chain.

"The coconut industry has grown into one of the most dynamic sectors, not only contributing significantly to our export base but also touching the lives of many families and communities in positive ways" she added.

The future of the coconut industry lies in sustainability. We must ensure that the growth of industry benefits everyone, from the farmers cultivating the crops to the consumers who enjoy the final products.

"Promoting environmentally friendly practices, ethical sourcing, and fair trade will ensure the long-term success of the industry while protecting our environment and enhancing the livelihoods of all those involved" She stated.

The CEO of GEPA stated that the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) was being implemented aimed at generating at least US$25.3 billion by the year 2029.

She said though it won't be an easy feat to achieve, GEPA was poised to do everything possible to achieve the goal.

Hence, GEPA was deepening its collaboration with all export sector stakeholders, both public and private.

GEPA has collaborated strongly with the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters, the umbrella body of all the agricultural product associations of which the African Coconut Group is a member, investors, and international partners like Solidaridad and the Tree Crop Development Authority to create a supportive ecosystem for the growth of the coconut sector" She added.