The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has invested almost a billion cedis last year to rehabilitate aged cocoa farms and those ravaged by swollen shoot diseases to help increase national production in the short to medium term. The amount adds to similar spending in previous years to replace farms attacked by the virus, leading to reduced cocoa production in recent years. The Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, said in an interview that the initiative was part of efforts to sustain cocoa production and the livelihoods of farmers. He was, therefore, confident that the country would produce more than 800,000 metric tons of cocoa in the 2024/25 season that opens in September. The CEO and his deputy in charge of Finance and Administration, Ray Ankrah, were reacting to media reports that COCOBOD's administrative expenses rose to GH¢3.4 billion last year when cocoa production fell.