Dr. Nii Tackie-Otoo (INSET) and a section of the farmer at the programme
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has announced it will recruit 30,000 young people from cocoa growing areas to undertake the 2018/2019 pollination exercise in phases.
Acting Deputy Executive Director of Cocoa Health Extension Division of COCOBOD, Dr Nii Tackie-Otoo, who made the disclosure, said the selection of new pollination centres was underway.
Speaking at the second cocoa dialogue series of the Ghana Agriculture and Rural Development Journalists (GARDJA) at Anyinabirim in the Western Region, Dr Tackie-Otoo, stated that an additional 17,655 labourers would also be recruited for the mass pruning exercise.
He said the pruning exercise would commence in February 2019 and end in March the same year, adding that COCOBOD has begun the review and analysis of the 2017/2018 pod count.
According to him, hand pollination, pruning, irrigation of cocoa farms are part of the COCOBOD’s Performance Enhancement Programmes (PEPs) meant to increase the country’s cocoa production.
Dr Tackie-Otoo indicated that between 80 and 90 percent of flowers on cocoa trees go waste through flower abortion and dropping.
“The hand pollination initiative is to promote massive pod development towards increasing yield per hectare, produce and maintain over one million tonnes of cocoa annually and create employment for the rural youth.
The acting deputy executive director disclosed that the cocoa production target of 900,000 metric tonnes would be exceeded under the initiative which was introduced in 2017.
He said COCOBOD had planned to procure 20,000 additional mist blowers and knapsack sprayers to address some challenges.
Dr Nii Tackie-Otoo also reiterated the commitment of COCOBOD’s management to irrigating 30,000 cocoa farms in 10 years’ time.
According to him, the COCOBOD management would also explore the use of drone technology to detect diseases in cocoa farms across the country for immediate redress, pointing out that about 40 percent of cocoa trees in Ghana are either diseased or moribund.
The event, which was held under the theme, “Putting Ghana’s Cocoa Sector on a Firmer Footing,” brought together cocoa farmers, journalists, officials of COCOBOD, agric experts and other relevant stakeholders.
President of the Association, Richmond Frimpong, cited pesticide abuse, climate change, low yields, illegal mining and child labour as some challenges in the cocoa sector.
He called on COCOBOD to address the various challenges to improve the incomes of farmers.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Anyabirim