Joseph Boahen Aidoo
THE GHANA Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has predicted a possible cocoa fertiliser shortage in the coming years.
The potential shortage is attributed to the impact of COVID-19 and the current Russia-Ukraine war.
Joseph Boahene Aidoo, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, disclosed this during the inauguration of three management committees including the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), the Seed Production Division (SPD), and the Cocoa Health and Extension Division.
“The coming years will be very difficult for us as a sector, and for our farmers because the war in Ukraine has come to compound the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic to the extent that the basic ingredients needed in producing fertilisers and other chemicals are going to be difficult to come by. We have to brace ourselves for the coming years and expect that the price of fertiliser will not be the same – even getting the fertiliser will be a challenge,” he revealed.
Mr. Boahene said measures have been initiated to ensure farmers do not face severe hardship; however, cocoa farmers should resort to organic fertilisers like poultry manure.
“We, as a country, are going to look for alternatives, and one critical thing we have been telling the farmers is that, when we talk of fertiliser, we are not only talking about the inorganic fertiliser.
“There is organic fertiliser such as poultry manure which is the best, but our farmers are conservative. This is the challenge because they are all looking up to government for free fertiliser. Now it is not going to come, so we are asking our farmers to brace these austerity measures together and resort to organic fertiliser,” he explained.
The COCOBOD CEO called for a national crop strategy that will see to the prioritisation of massive local production of fertiliser inputs to make for the acute shortage of fertilisers.
“It will mean that the management committee will have to come up with a strategic direction for our cocoa farmers. This is to ensure our production target is not affected,” he added.
Several farmers in parts of the country are struggling to access fertiliser to increase yields. Some had blamed government for failing to pay fertiliser suppliers hence the shortage, long before the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has admitted to challenges with the supply of fertilisers to farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.
It, however, blamed the situation partly on the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri