Cocoa farmers attend stakeholders' forum

New Edubiase (Ash), Oct 23, GNA - Mr Samuel E. Bisiw, the Ashanti Regional Manager of the Quality Control Division of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has advised cocoa farmers to desist from bad practices that militate against the production of quality cocoa. He mentioned some of these practices as irregular harvesting leading to bad beans and improper fermentation that is responsible for the purple beans.

Mr Bisiw was addressing a forum attended by about 250 stakeholders in the cocoa industry at New Edubiase in the Adansi South District on Friday.

It was organized by the Quality Control Division and was attended by cocoa farmers, district managers of the various Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) and purchasing clerks.

The forum was aimed at educating the stakeholders on the best way of reducing the high rate of purple beans in the country's cocoa. Mr Bisiw advised the farmers to ferment their cocoa beans for at least six days and dry them properly to maintain the natural flavour of the beans.

Mr Francis Dorpenyoh, Adansi South District Chief Executive, reiterated government's commitment to improving the living standard of farmers in the country.

The participants appealed to chiefs to mount a campaign in their areas of jurisdiction to educate the people on the purple beans and also formulate plans to ensure that farmers ferment their beans properly.