Government is committed to improving the cocoa
sector – President
Suhum (E/R) Oct. 01, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills,
on Thursday reiterated the commitment of government to
improve the cocoa sector as a means of achieving a better
Ghana.
He said the government would support Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD),
to undertake projects like providing solar street lighting,
bituminous surfacing of selected roads and solar-powered
bore holes for some cocoa growing communities.
President Mills said this in a speech read on his behalf at
this year’s Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) Day celebration
at Suhum under the theme; “Consume More Cocoa for a Better
Health and a Better Ghana”.
He said farm productivity of less than 500 kilos per hectare
was inadequate if the country was to achieve the target of
one million tones and beyond by 2012.
“This calls for a review of our technical interventions,
particularly the Hi-Tech and Mass Spraying programmes,” he
said.
President Mills said it would be necessary to identify the
major problems facing the programme and make a conscious
effort to address them.
“It is my belief that an effective and efficient HI-Tech and
Mass Spraying programme would move the farm productivity to
an appreciable level.”
The President said government was voting money for the
rehabilitation of cocoa farms adding that it would also
bring into fruition the Cocoa Farmers Insurance Scheme.
He expressed concern about smuggling of cocoa and related
products to neighbouring countries and urged all
stakeholders to support government in its efforts to address
the menace.
President Mills said cocoa smuggling did not only cost the
nation huge sums of money but also posed a major threat to
the country’s desire to attain its targeted output.
He said a major threat to the country’s ability to sustain
production levels was the ageing farmer population in cocoa
production and called for measures that would attract the
youth to join the sector.
He gave the assurance that government would always strive to
put in place the best of measures to improve the livelihood
and welfare of cocoa farmers and motivate them to produce
more cocoa to earn higher incomes.
Mr Tony Fofie, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, said the
board recognized that the expected increase in production
levels would require some changes in the industry.
He said: “We must review our production and post-harvest
technologies to ensure higher efficiency, change marketing
strategies to increase the sale of domestically processed
cocoa and modernized warehousing and port handling
operations to cope with increased volumes of cocoa that will
be passing through the ports.”
Mr Fofie said COCOBOD in partnership with COPAL was actively
encouraging local consumption of cocoa not just for
commercial benefits but for the health benefits as well.
He appealed to local cocoa processing companies and other
allied institutions to rationalize their operations with a
view to cutting their cost of operations to make cocoa
products affordable to Ghanaians.
Mr Sona Ebai, Secretary General of COPAL, said scientific
findings revealed that there were still many more “wonders
about cocoa” yet to be discovered.
“As we enjoy a bullish cocoa market, let us continue to
devote our technological imagination to downstream Research
and Development in order to lengthen our list of new
products that are healthy and affordable to the people,” he
said.
Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance, in an address read
for him, appealed to Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) to use
the Seed Fund that COCOBOD would advance to them to pay
farmers promptly when the 2009/2010 cocoa season was opened.
He urged COCOBOD to also endeavor to pay LBCs promptly when
they delivered cocoa to the take over centres.
GNA
