Alhaji Idris Hassan, Chairman of the Supreme Consultative Council of the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has called for the cancellation of all licences given for prospecting gold in cocoa growing areas.
He said it would be a misplacement of priority for licence to be given people to mine in cocoa growing areas because this can lead to the destruction of cocoa farms.
Alhaji Hassan was speaking at the Cocobod workers and farmers regional education tour at Koforidua in the Eastern Region.
The tour is aimed at bringing all stakeholders in the industry together to help increase productivity and put in place the right measures to earn more foreign exchange for the country’s economic development.
He urged all to help find solutions for the cocoa industry’s concerns to make the industry vibrant and an effective contributor to national development.
Alhaji Alhassan Bukari, National Chief Farmer, called on cocoa farmers to be united and through cocoa production help the country attain economic and infrastructural development.
He thanked government for its continuous support to the cocoa industry through the supply of inputs like free fertiliser, provision of insecticides, as well as increasing the price of a bag of cocoa.
Nana Obeng Akrofi, the Eastern Regional Chief Farmer, urged the cocoa farmers to adopt good agronomic practices to enable them achieve 14 bags of cocoa per acre -- which could gradually pave the way for the country to attain its national cocoa stock target.
He appealed to the Cocobod to increase the quantity of seedlings supplied to the farmers, due to the severe harmattan experienced, coupled with bush fires which have destroyed many seedlings planted last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment