The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Joseph Boahen Aidoo has expressed dissatisfaction over the declining rates of cocoa production in the Volta Region.
According to him, the Volta Region which includes the Oti Region with a production capacity of 10,000 tonnes in previous years produced about 5,000 tonnes a reduction from this year’s 805 tonnes by February.
“The total production from Volta Region that we recorded was 874 tonnes less than 1/10 of their expected capacity “ adding, “ from February to October this year we have not bought a single bag from a cocoa farmer in the Volta Region and as at December 8th the board has recorded the total purchases in the region of 4.26 tonnes,” he said.
Mr. Boahen Aidoo attributed the drop in production in the region to increasing cocoa smuggling activities and the “Black Market” in neighbouring country Togo.
“ If not for the smuggling we should now be doing more than what we have recorded from the region. People will say that due to the market mechanism where prices for sales of cocoa are higher than farmers they forget that here in Ghana a lot of interventions are implemented for farmers to improve their production capacity” he said.
Some of the cocoa farmer interventions listed by Mr. Boahen Aidoo include the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, pruning of overgrown cocoa trees, hand-pollination, applying fertilizers, and cocoa livelihood projects among others introduced by the Board to help boost production levels in the country.
He indicated that these initiatives which are implemented free for farmers using loans from developing partners to improve our production.
He also indicated that upon assumption of office, a yield per acre was less than 3 bags but has now increased to 5 to 6 bags per acre with some exceptional cocoa farmers producing 20 bags per acre as a result of the introduction of innovative initiatives from the board.
“We aim at making farmers produce 20 bags per acre so we are doing our best but if it’s not manifested in the production recorded the work we have done will not be seen by Ghanaians”
“We spend all this money at the end of the day and the cocoa is taken away from Ghana to neighbouring countries where there are no regulations on the black market” he indicated.
He announced that the board is embarking on a rehabilitation project after securing a loan from the African Development Bank, saying, “We need to repay the loan we are using for the rehabilitation of the farmers. It is very painful to see farmers selling their cocoa on the black market in Togo.
Boahen Aidoo entreated the media to support the board in advocating against cocoa smuggling in the country and be quick to publish arrested individuals and organizations involved in cocoa smuggling activities to serve as a deterrent to ending smuggling.