COCOBOD trains 125 workers at Boadua to pollinate cocoa farms
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has recruited and trained 125 workers in the Boadua Cocoa District in the Eastern Region to pollinate cocoa farms belonging to 864 farmers.
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The nationwide pollination exercise is among measures being adopted by the government to reverse the declining cocoa yield which is on the average of 450 kilogrammes per hectare to a minimum of 2,000 kilogrammes per hectare.
Sixty cocoa farms in the district have so far been pollinated and each cocoa tree is expected to bear 100 pods.
The Boadua District Cocoa Officer, Mr Ignatius Pumpuni, announced this at a farmers’ rally at Akyem Osenase near Asamankese.
He commended the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for its commitment to revamp the cocoa industry to play a positive role in the national economic recovery programme and urged farmers to reciprocate the gesture by seeking advice from extension officers to maintain their cocoa farms in order to achieve the desired results.
Mr Pumpuni enjoined farmers not to spray their pollinated cocoa farms until after six weeks to prevent the destruction of the pods.
In line with the measures to revamp the cocoa industry, he said COCOBOD would cut down all aged and diseased cocoa trees, replant and maintain the farms for three years free of charge before handing them over to their owners, adding that the affected farmers would also receive compensation.
The Denkyembour District Chief Farmer, Mr Job Gyedu, appealed to the government to make more spraying machines available to cocoa farmers at a reduced cost.
He urged the government to supply free fertilisers to cocoa farmers to motivate them to maximise their output.
During an open forum, the farmers called for the establishment of a local fertiliser manufacturing factory to make fertilisers readily available at all times and at affordable prices.
He urged COCOBOD to set up more cocoa nurseries at vantage points and increase the number of spraying gangs for as many farmers as possible to benefit from the exercise.