Ghana has delayed the delivery of 370,000 metric tons of cocoa in the 2023/24 season due to poor output, Mr Eric Opoku, Food and Agribusiness Minister-designate, has said.

Speaking during his parliamentary vetting in Accra on Monday, he said the unprecedented move to delay delivery from the previous 2023/24 season to the ongoing season follows a sharp drop in production to a two-decade low.

Reuters reported in June that Ghana, the world's number two cocoa producer, was looking to delay the delivery of up to 350,000 tons of cocoa beans to the following season due to poor crops.

Ghana's Cocoa production peaked in 2021, with output of over 1 million tons of beans. But it has been in a rapid decline ever since, hitting its lowest level in decades last season.

Analysts say climate change and tree disease are responsible, while many farmers also blame the government for failing to clamp down on wildcat gold mining that has destroyed large parts of the cocoa heartland.

Mr Opoku said production fell to "the lowest in two decades" in the 2023/24 season, citing production figures of below 550,000 tons provided by the cocoa marketing board (COCOBOD).

He said the poor cocoa output forced Cocobod to default on the repayment of a $800 million loan secured from international lenders to finance cocoa purchases that season.