CORIP-Ghana train cocoa farmers to increase yield
The programme Manager for the Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP-Ghana), Mr Eric Amoako Agyare has said in spite of the threat posed by illegal mining to the cocoa industry, Ghana could still maintain its position as a leading cocoa producer and achieve the one million metric tonnes target.
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Speaking during a media field trip to some of the Rural Service Centres (RSC) set up by the programme in the Ashanti and Central Regions, Mr Agyare said what was needed was the right attitude from farmers and the need for them to see farming as a business and invest in it.
According to him, many farmers were still relying on the assistance from government and not willing to invest in it to enable them to reap the benefits.
He said with the application of the appropriate technology and best farming practices, farmers could double their production and harvest more yields than they were currently getting from their old farms.
Mr. Agyare said if half of the cocoa farmers would have access to improved services, most of them would double their production and thus increase the nation’s production.
Currently, he said most farmers harvest about 400 kg of cocoa per hectare and this, he said, could be double from the same acreage if they had access to farming inputs such as fertilizers, weedicide and access to extension services.
And due to the low yields, most of the farmers are selling their farms to small scale miners to be mined for gold while others were also losing their farms to these miners.
As part of the CORIP-Ghana, the programme has established 20 RSCs in 14 districts of four of the cocoa producing regions in the country, providing training services to farmers and also educating them on good practices to improve on cocoa production in Ghana.
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The centres provide services such as the retailing of inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides, tools and irrigation systems.
The farmers are also trained in additional livelihood methods and food securities to enable the farmers have other source of income and food in addition to the cocoa production.
This is to ensure that during the lean season, the farmers would have other source of income.
They also train farmers and disseminate information on good practices to enable farmers to improve on cocoa production in Ghana.
As part of the project, the programme is rehabilitating some selected over aged farms in the implementation districts.
The programme is introduction a new system where old and over aged cocoa farms would either be completely rehabilitated where the whole cocoa trees are cut down and new seedlings planted or the old trees are pruned and grafted.
In all, a total of 19 farms have been selected for grafting which is new technology for rehabilitating old farms.
Depending on its source, the programme will be scaled up to cover other farms.
A cocoa breeder with the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) Dr Francis Padi, said the challenges facing the programme was that most farmers were unwilling to release their farms for the project although it was coming at no cost to them.
He said most them wanted financial remuneration before joining the programme.