COCOBOD research director chooses lithovit fertilizer over others; says farmers also prefer it

The Director of Research at Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Francis Baah has confirmed in court that farmers who applied lithovit foliar fertilizer on their cocoa farms preferred it to other fertilizers.

The senior management member of COCOBOD also endorsed a report compiled by the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), following field trips to cocoa-producing regions under the CODAPEC and HITECH program in 2015, which testified about the effectiveness of lithovit fertilizer on cocoa farms.

Dr. Francis Baah who is a subpoenaed witness for businessman Seidu Agongo was giving his evidence in chief at the high court on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 as he was led through the field report, which was admitted in court the previous day as Exhibit 138.

The composite report from the field visits to cocoa farms in seven cocoa regions included the executive director, deputy executive director, technical managers, and technical officers of CHED among others to obtain “evidence of what is happening on the field”.

Dr. Baah who was the Executive Director of CHED when the field visits were conducted, told the court that the various teams interacted with farmers, agents and technical officers during the exercise.

His deputy then, in charge of monitoring and evaluation, Mr. Peter Okyere Boateng who has already given evidence on behalf of the former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, informed the court that while on the field, they took notes of farmers' preferences and issues, and reported them to Dr. Baah as their boss.

When Dr. Baah was asked about this, he admitted, “Yes my Lord I recall the mentioning of preference for lithovit fertilizer as against the granular fertilizers, that was specifically mentioned”.

He noted that the technical team, back from the field, suggested that a further study should be conducted involving more farms to “verify the perception” created by the farmers as well as was observed by the team.

Counsel for Seidu Agongo, Benson Nutsukpui then asked what was this perception, which he explained, “My Lord the perception that farmers show preference for liquid fertilizers as against granular”.

“Do you remember which liquid fertilizer the farmers were showing preference for?” the witness was asked.

“The team reported that the preference was for lithovit liquid fertilizer,” Dr. Baah answered.

The former Executive Director of CHED also confirmed that the team recommended in their report that COCOBOD should increase the number of lithovit because it was the preference of farmers.

“It is true that part of the recommendations from the field trips was for ‘additional fertilizer especially lithovit which farmers have shown preference for should be purchased to augment the 700,000 litres already purchased’, that is in the report” Benson read from the field report.

In response, Dr. Baah stated, “My Lord it is a valid recommendation on the basis of the evidence that was gathered on the field.”

The case in which he was testifying is the one in which former COCOBOD Chief Executive, Dr. Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo as well as Agricult Ghana Limited, are facing 27 charges.

Among others, defrauding by false pretences, willfully causing financial loss to the state, corruption by public officers and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.