Swollen-shoot infested cocoa farms to be cut down at Nyakrom

Breman Kuntanasi, C/R, Sept 2, GNA - The Central Region branch of the Cocoa Swollen-shoot Virus Division (CSSVD) of the Ghana Cocoa Board is to embark on an exercise to cut down all infested farms in the Agona Nyakrom District.

Mr Ebenezer Odame, District Manager, announced this at a farmers rally organized by the Division at Breman Kuntanasi in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District to educate them on the need for the exercise to avoid its spread to other farms.

He said the rehabilitation of infested cocoa farms, which would cost billions of cedis, had delayed due to administrative difficulties. Mr Odame stressed that compensations would be paid to those whose farms would be affected to enable them to replant with hybrid cocoa seedlings.

He asked affected farmers to report to officials of the CSSVD. Mrs Faustine Asamany, Deputy Central Regional Manager of the Division, who spoke on topic "Child labour in cocoa growing area", appealed to farmers to assign children with roles commensurate with their age.

She said since the campaign against child labour was launched at Sefwi Dabiso in the Western Region, the problem had gone down well with farmers and appealed to chief farmers, opinion leaders and Assembly Members to step up education on the dangers of child labour. Nana Tutu, Central Regional Chief Farmer, reiterated the call on the cocoa farmers to invest in their children's education, which he said was the best legacy they could leave their offspring.

He said gone were the days when cocoa farmers used all their earnings to marry more women and for material things.

Nana Tutu noted that the only way farmers could reduce poverty was to educate their children and cautioned them to desist from sending their children to farms at the expense of their education. Nana Kweku Odoom Essilfie, Chief of Kuntanasi, said the Division established 40 spraying gangs between 2003 and 2006 in the district and expressed concern that the town was given only one gang for the many farms.