COCOBOD inaugurates task force to enhance production
The Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) of Ghana Cocoa board (COCOBOD), Mr James Kofi Kutsoati, has inaugurated a 10-member Akyem Oda District Cocoa Disease and Pest Control task force at Oda to enhance Cocoa production.
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In his inaugural address, Mr Kutsoaki admonished members of the task force to perform their duties in a concerted effort to ensure total security, transparency and fairness in the distribution of inputs to cocoa farmers to advance the cocoa sector.
He also urged them not to directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person, matters which should be brought under their consideration or should come to their knowledge in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Kutsoati announced that a special services department had been set up by COCOBOD to track the chemicals supplied farmers to spray their cocoa farms.
He charged the task force to educate farmers on the proper application of fertiliser and cocoa spraying to enhance productivity.
Mr Kutsoati called on agricultural extension officers to advise cocoa farmers to cut down diseased cocoa trees and those which were 30 years old or above and replant them with free hybrid cocoa seedlings from COCOBOD.
He stated that the government would grant 12,000 scholarships this year exclusively for the children of cocoa farmers to encourage them to maximise their output in cocoa production.
Dr Francis Baah, the Executive Director of Cocoa Health and Extension Division of COCOBOD, warned the spraying gangs against the sale of the free fertiliser and pesticides supplied them since defaulters would be severely sanctioned.
He said the task force was formed in response to numerous complaints made by cocoa farmers about the unfair distribution of fertiliser and chemicals.
The chairman of the task force, Mr Emmanuel Grayham, on behalf of his colleagues, gave the assurance that they would work hard towards increased cocoa production in the country.
The chief of Akyem Awisa, Nana Kwarteng Karikari, expressed concern about the decline of cocoa production in recent times and urged COCOBOD to encourage farmers to reverse the trend and to increase the country’s foreign exchange earnings.