President John Evans Atta Mills has assured cocoa farmers that the government will not abandon the cocoa sector because of the discovery of oil in the country.
“We have learnt from the mistakes of our sister countries that have discovered oil and will never repeat those mistakes in our dear country,” Prof Atta Mills said.
The President said that in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Forestry at the Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) Cocoa Day celebration at Hohoe in the Volta Region yesterday.
The day brought together cocoa farmers from all over the country. An exhibition was mounted to showcase the various products that could be obtained from the cocoa plant, including cocoa butter, chocolates, beverages, cocoa pomade, brandy and soap.
President Mills said cocoa was so dear to his heart that he would ensure that the sector continued to play a critical role in the ‘Better Ghana’ agenda set by his administration.
The President said that the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had implemented various measures and policies to ensure that the Better Ghana Agenda was reflected in the cocoa sector.
Those measures and policies, Prof. Mills said, were geared towards achieving the target of producing one million tonnes of cocoa annually.
Some of the measures and policies, he said, were the re-introduction of cocoa extension services, the rehabilitation of the old unproductive farms, hi-tech cocoa seeds and mass spraying programmes.
The President said research had shown that the weakest link between the country’s drive to achieve the one million-tonne target was the lack of cocoa extension services.
He commended the cocoa farmers and informed them that the government had listened to their cries and had as such decided to introduce a pension scheme for them.
“The technocrats are currently working on the modalities to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable scheme,” he said.
He added that the government was fine-tuning the farmers housing scheme to expand it to cover more farmers.
The President assured the management of COCOBOD that the government would continue to support them in their effort to raise the per capita consumption of cocoa in the country.
“We should eat what we grow and grow what we eat” and for that reason, he called on Ghanaians to make conscious effort to substitute tea breaks with cocoa breaks.
Mr Anthony Fofie, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, noted that the celebration of the Cocoa Day in Hohoe, and for that matter the Volta Region, was to re-awaken the people in the region to redouble up their efforts at cocoa production.
Mr Fofie said the region, which used to produce an average of 20,000 tonnes per annum in the 1970s, was currently producing an average of 1,000 tonnes.
“We need to reverse this trend since the region has the potential to bounce back to assume its rightly position as a major cocoa-producing region,” the Chief Executive said.
He said in a bid to rejuvenate the cocoa production in the region, COCOBOD had established a seed garden at Saviefe in the Ho Municipality to provide interested farmers with improved planting materials.
On cocoa consumption, Mr Fofie reiterated that the per capita consumption was still low, about half a kilogramme per head.
COCOBOD, he said, had targeted to attain at least a kilo per head in the medium term.
“To this end, COCOBOD will soon embark on a massive campaign programme, which includes conference for researchers to share ideas on the health benefits of cocoa consumption and the inauguration of cocoa drink dispensing joints,” he said.
He said that the surest way of ensuring the sustainable local consumption was to have children inculcate the habit as they would not only develop the taste for cocoa products but also stay healthier to contribute their quota toward the Better Ghana agenda.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to consider incorporating cocoa consumption into the School Feeding Programme.
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