Ghana Cocobod signs 3-year $150 mln loan with RBS

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (RBS.L: Quote, Profile , Research) on Friday signed a three-year loan agreement in London that aims to take Ghana's cocoa production to a record one million tonnes in three years.

Cocobod chief executive Isaac Osei said the purpose of the landmark loan agreement was to increase productivity, build new infrastructure and improve quality assurance in the world's second largest cocoa producer.

"I can tell you that within the term of this loan, Ghana will produce at least a million tonnes a year," Osei said at the signing ceremony attended by Ghana's President John Kufuor.

The West African country, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence from Britain this year, has seen its output rise in recent years, registering a record 740,000 tonnes in 2006.

"This money will be spent towards improving hi-tech agronomic practices that will vastly increase farm yields. We'll also build a 100,000 tonne capacity warehouse at Takoradi," he added, referring to the West African country's port city in the Western Region which produces 60 percent of Ghana's cocoa.

Already a new 50,000 tonne capacity warehouse is in operation at Tema port near the capital in the east.

Cocobod is the sole exporter of cocoa from Ghana, where a scarcity of rainfall in recent months has hampered this year's crop.

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