Joseph Boahen Aidoo (3rd from right)
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has announced that his outfit will soon introduce irrigation system in cocoa farms at Kumikrom in the Western North Region.
Mr. Aidoo indicated that the current climate change crisis has made it prudent for irrigation system in every cocoa farm.
He mentioned that the initiative was to help boost cocoa production in the country all year round.
The COCOBOD CEO was addressing cocoa farmers at Kumikrom Bankyease in the Sefwi Bekwai Municipality of the Western North Region.
He said with the availability of the irrigation facilities, the beneficiary farmers could harvest 40 bags of cocoa per acre every year.
That, he said, would help enhance the incomes of farmers for the betterment of their families.
Mr. Aidoo, therefore, advised the farmers to adopt research findings such as regular clearing of weeds, pruning and application of fertilisers among others to obtain maximum yields from their cocoa farms.
He explained to the farmers that the current happenings in Ukraine have had a huge effect on fertiliser production.
According to him, one of the main component in making fertiliser, Sulphur Ammonium, comes from Ukraine.
He told the farmers that for the meantime they could fall on poultry droppings as fertilisers.
He indicated that before the current government came to power, the cocoa industry was collapsing.
“But when we came to power in 2017, we realised that most of the cocoa farms were not yielding more fruits so a research was conducted and we realised that the cocoa farms were attacked by the swollen shoot disease,” he added.
He said, “It was there that the government and COCOBOD decided to cut down all the diseased farms and replaced them with disease resistance seedlings under the cocoa rehabilitation programme.”
He encouraged the youth in the area who have organised themselves into “weeding gangs” in the cocoa farms to register with COCOBOD to enjoy some benefits.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Kumikrom