COCOBOD determines to hit one million tonnes of cocoa production

Accra, July 15, GNA - Ghana Cocoa Board's (COCOBOD) ambition to produce one million metric tonnes of cocoa by 2011/2012 cocoa season, could be possible if the major constraints of solving the poor extension support to cocoa farmers were overcome.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who made the observation on Wednesday said: "If no solution is found to this major constraint to increase farm productivity, this aspiration would remain a mirage and the huge investment on the importation of fertilizer and other inputs for 'high tech' cocoa programme would be a waste of very scarce resources."

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf by Dr Sam Mensah, Technical Adviser of the Finance Ministry, at the opening of a two-day workshop on New Cocoa Extension System for cocoa farmers under the private-public partnership.

The workshop will review the current state of cocoa extension plan and develop new strategies to evolve a functioning and sustainable extension system for farmers.

Dr Duffuor noted that the cocoa sub-sector was the backbone of the Ghanaian economy and was crucial to address the constraints facing the industry to ensure a maximum impact on the nation's cocoa production. He noted that the history of cocoa extension dated back to the period of cocoa swollen shoot disease in 1939, when the Department of Agriculture was established to deal with it. However, it had had to undergo restructuring to ensure cost effective and efficient delivery of cocoa extension services to farmers, the Minister said.

Dr Duffuor expressed government's support for private partnership in achieving among other things innovation and diversity in the provision of extension services, removal of capacity constraints and bottlenecks in the delivery of extension services to cocoa farmers and creation of added value through synergies between public authorities and private sector.

Mr Tony Fofie, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD noted that the current average yield was 400 kilogrammes per hectare whilst on research plots at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana yielded more than two tonnes per hectare.

He said the private-public partnership would provide the needed technological and allied information to farmers for the benefit of all the three distinct typological classes, which are the high, medium and low classes.

Mr Fofie called on all stakeholders to contribute in making the dream of achieving one million metric tonnes of cocoa in the short term a reality. 15 July 09