Work hard to increase cocoa production. Farmers, extension officers urged
Farmers, extension officers and other stakeholders in the cocoa industry have been urged to work extra hard to increase cocoa production to generate more foreign exchange to develop the country.
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The Asamankese District Cocoa Officer, Mr Isaac Adu, made the call when he deputised for the Eastern Regional Manager of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr Samuel Gyimah Gyamfi at a farmers’ rally at Akyem Asene near Oda last Thursday.
The rally was organised by the Boadua Cocoa District Office of the COCOBOD to educate farmers to adopt effective cultural practices to enhance productivity.
Mr Adu said the call had become imperative as the limited revenue generated by the government from taxes and other sources alone was insufficient to cater for the numerous needs of Ghanaians.
He stated that the government had procured adequate fertiliser and chemicals for free distribution to farmers this year.
Mr Adu called on chiefs and land owners to release land on liberal terms to the youth to venture into farming as a measure of reducing the unemployment problem in the country.
He advised farmers to cut down all cocoa trees which were 25 years old or more as well as diseased cocoa trees and replant them with free cocoa seedlings from the COCOBOD.
Mr Adu stressed the need for teachers to desist from using weeding as a punishment for schoolchildren as that practice would discourage the children from taking to farming when they grew up.
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The Boadua District Cocoa Officer, Mr Ignatius Pumpuni enjoined cocoa farmers to form groups and clear their farms in order to benefit from the free distribution of fertiliser and the spraying of their farms.
He urged farmers to seek technical advice from extension officers before broadcasting fertiliser or spraying their farms in order to ensure their effectiveness.
Mr Pumpuni also expressed concern about the destruction of 14 cocoa farms by bushfires in the district recently and urged the farmers to be extra careful whenever they set fire in the bush.
During an open forum, the farmers appealed to the government to extend the construction of cocoa roads to the area.