Stop planting tuber crops on cocoa farms - Agronomist
A Cocoa agronomist from Malaysia, Mr Ayyamani Jagadish, has called on cocoa farmers in the country to avoid the excessive planting of other tuber crops on their farmlands.
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He explained that the tuber crops on cocoa farms prevented the cocoa trees from absorbing the required nutrients needed for their potential growth.
He said although cocoa production needed some form of shade to grow well, especially during its early stage, planting of tuber crops such as yam, cassava, among others, would rather compete with the cocoa tree and thereby retard its progress.
Extension officers
Mr Jagadish was advising cocoa lead farmers and extension officers after a three-day field practical workshop at Behenease in the Ashanti Region, as part of "Utz Cocoa Sustainability Programme", sponsored by the Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited, a subsidiary of Barry Callebaut, an international chocolate firm.
According to him, the practice of growing a single crop on the same land, in the absence of growing multiple crops, "would even make it easier for farmers to harvest their produce devoid of other crops which may have served as obstacles".
He said research had shown that many farmers in less developed countries such as Ghana were not maximising production due to the inaccessible nature of their farms.
Mr Jagadish, however, reiterated that Ghana's cocoa beans were acclaimed all over the world, hence the need to maintain their quality and ensure their sustainability.
High production
According to the Project Manager, Mr Abraham Appiah-Kubi, the programme sought to promote high productivity in the cultivation of cocoa.
He said the company since its inception in 2011 was currently working with farmers in 92 cocoa-growing districts across the country.
Cocoa systems
The participants were taken through topics such as pruning of cocoa trees, integration of timber trees in cocoa systems, black pod management, rational pesticide use within soil fertility management and nursery establishment.
Drawn from across the country, they are expected to go back to their communities and transfer the knowledge they had acquired to at least 30 cocoa farmers.
