Don't exploit children - Cocoa farmers urged

Juaso (Ash), Dec 14, GNA - Mr Isaac Osei, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has cautioned cocoa farmers to desist from engaging their children in farming at the expense of their education.

He said the practice could deprive the nation of human resource to spearhead its development.

Mr Osei said this in an interaction with cocoa farmers and purchasing clerks at Juaso in the Asante-Akim South District on Wednesday.

It offered the farmers a platform to put across their grievances most of which centered on activities of purchasing clerks. Mr Osei said denying children access to education amounted to the violation of their right to education, an offence liable to prosecution. He said COCOBOD was putting measures in place to ensure at least 91 per cent of its annual scholarships would be awarded to wards of cocoa farmers and urged them to take advantage of the new policy. Touching on activities of purchasing clerks, Mr Osei said COCOBOD had received numerous complaints accusing them of adjusting their weighing scales to their advantage and cautioned them to refrain from the act in their own interest.

He said a special task force would soon embark on a nationwide exercise to check activities of such unscrupulous purchasing clerks and that culprits would be prosecuted.

Dr Lord Justice Gyamfi-Fenteng, the District Chief Executive, said the government was committed to the production of quality cocoa hence the introduction of the mass spraying exercise.