About 2,900 acres of cocoa farms are to be sprayed in the Techiman District as part of the mass cocoa spraying exercise currently underway, Mr Fed A. Nketia, a Technical Officer of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) said last Thursday.
He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that a total of 1,013 acres of the farms have been sprayed so far since the exercise began about two weeks ago and expressed the hope that the remaining 1,887 acres would be completed by the end of the month.
"The second phase of the spraying exercise slated for December will cover a similar acreage."
Meanwhile, Mr Isaac Osei-Antwi, District Chief Executive for Techiman has inaugurated a four-member executive committee for the exercise at Nsuta, near Techiman and warned those engaged in the spraying not to divert chemicals and pre-mix fuel allocated to them for the exercise.
The DCE advised the spraying groups to adhere to the instructions on proper spraying to ensure good harvest and called on farmers in the area to co-operate with them to make the exercise succeed.
Mr Kwabena Adjei, Chairman of the committee, thanked the DCE for the confidence reposed in them and pledged they would work whole-heartedly for the success of the exercise.
The spraying groups appealed to the government to supply them with cutters to chop off parasitic plants ("Nkrampaa"), which attack and kill the cocoa trees.
