The Akyem Oda District office of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has held a district farmers educational rally for 639 farmers at Akyem Kokoben with a call on the participants not to engage children in child labour. The District Cocoa Officer, Mr Michael Gyasi, who made the call last Tuesday, explained that child labour meant any work that prevented children from going to school or engaging them in activities including pesticides application, pruning, mistletoes removal, the use of sharp objects and other heavy duties that hampered their health or development. He noted with pride that Ghana produced over one million tonnes of cocoa during the 2020/21 cocoa season and commended the farmers for their hardwork.
Regain past glory
Mr Gyasi advised farmers not to relent on their efforts but instead work assiduously for the country to regain its former position as the leading cocoa producer in the world. He enjoined the farmers to continue to observe the COVID-19 safety and preventive protocols such as handwashing and sanitising their hands, wearing of nose masks and social distancing to avoid contracting the disease.
The Eastern Regional Extension Officer of COCOBOD, Mr Prince Kyei Ofori-Attah, educated the participants on the dangers of capsid and swollen shoot disease on cocoa production. He said unlike some years back when farmers were advised to cut overage and swollen shoot affected cocoa farms themselves, COCOBOD had now mandated its Cocoa Health and Extension Division to provide those free of charge.
Mr Ofori-Attah said the division had contracted service providers to carry out the exercise to prevent the spread of the disease.
Compensation
He stated that farmers who allowed their diseased cocoa trees to be cut would be compensated with GHc1,000 per hectare in addition to the provision of free hybrid cocoa seedlings and labourers to do lining, pegging and replanting of the seedlings.
He added that plantain suckers and economic tree seedlings would be distributed to the affected farmers free of charge to serve as temporary sheds for their cocoa trees, while COCOBOD would maintain the farms for two years before handing them over to the farmers.
He admonished the cocoa farmers to use only approved agrochemicals on their cocoa farms and avoid the use of weedicides but should resort to motorised slashes distributed to cooperative societies by COCOBOD.
Mr Ofori-Attah said the Oda District was the highest producer of cocoa in the Eastern Region but noted with concern that the quality of cocoa produced was compromised and, therefore, urged the farmers to adhere to strict advice by extension officers.
A representative of the Achiase District Quality Control Officer, Mr Farouk Amoah Tetteh, sensitized the farmers to good quality cocoa production through the various processes of harvesting, breaking of pods, fermentation, drying and storage.