Abdul Majeed Mumuni, the Eastern Regional Manager of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has urged cocoa farmers and landowners to defend their plantations from any detrimental activities, including illicit mining, claiming that the cocoa business is the backbone of the country's economy.
He said that illicit mining, sometimes referred to as galamsey in the region, has grown to pose a severe danger to the cocoa business, damaging cocoa crops and contaminating water supplies.
Last Friday, Mr. Mumuni underlined the possibility that the collapse of the cocoa sector may bring about the end of the world's economy when speaking to a gathering of local cocoa farmers in Begoro.
He cautioned cocoa growers to utilize farm inputs carefully, especially chemicals provided to them by COCOBOD, and to account for them as well.
Chemicals must not be misused or diverted.
operative regions
Mr. Mumuni urged the farmers to work with community extension agents in all areas of operation to embrace and carry out all COCOBOD projects since they were designed to help the farmers enhance productivity.
In order to decrease the spread of illnesses and boost productivity, he urged them to routinely prune their farms by removing extra and unhealthy branches, mistletoe, and mummified pods.
He said that COCOBOD had helped farmers by giving them motorized slashers, gasoline, and lubricants to make the pruning process easier.
He underlined that the government's free foliar fertilizer giveaway would only apply to farms that had been trimmed and that mass spraying activity was now required.
injecting money
Rev. Edwin Afari, Executive Director of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), stated that the cocoa sector was still vital to the nation and that it contributed $2 billion to the economy every year.
According to him, the CHED would try to reach out to cocoa farmers this year through education and training initiatives so they could become more productive.
In order to increase the amount of cocoa harvested per acre from the current three bags to 10, Rev. Afari warned farmers to rigorously follow and execute new technologies created by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana.
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