Release lands to the youth for cocoa production - Custodians of lands urged
The Eastern Regional Minister, Madam Mavis Ama Frimpong, has appealed to chiefs, family heads and custodians of lands to release land on liberal terms to the youth who are interested in farming to venture into large-scale cocoa production.
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The gesture, she stressed, would not only solve the unemployment problem facing the youth, but also increase the country’s foreign exchange earnings for national development.
Madam Frimpong made the appeal when she addressed a well-attended regional farmer’s rally at New Abirem last Tuesday.
She suggested the establishment of at least 10 hectares of community cocoa farms for all communities with farmlands to generate funds to supplement government efforts in providing development projects.
The regional minister also urged teachers, nurses and other public and civil servants in farming communities to use their spare time to establish cocoa farms to supplement their income.
She said apart from the free supply of fertiliser and insecticides to farmers to spray their cocoa farms, the government increased the producer price of cocoa by 78 per cent last year as a morale booster.
Madam Frimpong stated that the government had, through the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), nursed 16 million hybrid cocoa seedlings nationwide, 10 million of which were in the Eastern Region for free supply to cocoa farmers for planting this year.
The Eastern Regional Manager of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division of COCOBOD, Mr Samuel Gyimah Gyamfi, said COCOBOD had rolled out a special programme to encourage the youth to take cocoa farming not only as a business, but also as a profession.
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He said as part of the programme, youth groups were supported with packages such as free hybrid cocoa and economic tree seedlings, free fertiliser, free farm management, youth cocoa farmers’ database and a robust extension education and training.
Mr Gyamfi enjoined cocoa farmers to maximise their output and also adopt the recommended cultural practices to increase output for Ghana to recapture its former position as the world’s leading producer of cocoa.
He emphasised that the government was doing everything possible to encourage massive cocoa production, since a decline of the cocoa industry, a major foreign exchange earner for the country, would spell doom for the nation.
The Regional Chief Farmer, Nana Obeng Akrofi, expressed concern over the destruction of large hectares of cocoa farms by galamsey operators with impunity and urged the government to take realistic measures to reverse the trend.