Cocoa lands need protection - Farmers

Alhaji Idris Hassan, Chairman of the Supreme Consultative Council of the Ghana Cocobod, has called for the cancellation of all licenses given for the prospection of gold in cocoa growing areas.

He said it would be a misplacement of priority for license to be given to people to mine in cocoa growing areas because this could lead to the destruction of cocoa farms.

Alhaji Hassan was speaking at the Cocobod workers and farmers regional education tour at Koforidua.

The tour is aimed at bringing all stakeholders in the industry together to help increase productivity and put in place the right measures to earn more foreign exchange for economic development of the country.

He called on all to help find solutions to the concerns of the cocoa industry to make the industry vibrant and an effective contributor to national development.

Alhaji Alhassan Bukari, National Chief Farmer, called on cocoa farmers to be united and through cocoa production help the country to attain economic and infrastructural development.

He thanked government for the continuous support of the cocoa industry through the supply of some inputs like free fertilizer, provision of insecticides as well as increasing the price of a bag of cocoa.

Nana Obeng Akrofi, the Eastern Regional Chief Farmer, urged the cocoa farmers to adopt good agronomic practices to enable them achieve 14 bags of cocoa per acre which could gradually pave the way for the country to attain its national cocoa stock target.

He appealed to the Cocobod to increase the quantity of the seedlings supplied to the farmers, due to the severe harmatan experienced coupled with bush fires which have destroyed many seedlings planted last year.