Nsawam-Adoagyiri cocoa farmers appeal for more spraying machines
COCOA farmers in the Nsawam – Adoagyiri municipality in the Eastern Region, at the weekend, appealed to the Health and Extension Unit of the Cocoa Services Department to increase the number of spraying machines in the area.
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Making the appeal through the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Chief Farmer for the Produce Buying Company (PBC) Limited society/shed at Nsawam, Opanin Kwasi Akuffo, said one spraying machine for the whole municipality was woefully inadequate.
He said most of the farmers in the municipality did not benefit from this year’s cocoa spraying exercise, dubbed CODAPEC, because there was only one machine for the spraying gang, a phenomenon that prevented them from carrying out the spraying exercise effectively.
He also noted that there were several instances that fuel supplied for the machine by the Cocoa Services Department was not sufficient to meet the expected number of farms to be sprayed, adding, “This and other negative factors caused a setback in the CODAPEC exercise.”
He listed a number of towns and villages where large cocoa farms were located yet did not benefit from the spraying exercise such as Ahwerease, Nioka, Dago, Fahiako, Pakro, Teacher Mante, Obonsu, Mama Dede, Mepom and Ntowkrom.
The chief farmer said materials such as gloves and goggles for the spraying gang delayed in coming, and that the gang was yet to take delivery of their Wellington boots, which protected them from reptiles and enabled them to move to muddy areas on the farms.
He commended the Directorate of the Suhum District Cocoa Services Department, which had additional oversight responsibility for the Nsawam – Adoagyiri municipality, for the hard work done, but reminded the directorate that some of the farms in the area had not been measured yet.
He said one measuring machine for the vast farms was also inadequate to execute the work, which led to the exclusion of farms which could have benefited from the government’s allocation of free hybrid cocoa seedlings and fertilisers.
