Stop Habits Of Giving Your Cocoa Growing Farm Lands To Galamseyers -COCOBOD Boss Warns Custodian Land Owners And Farmers
He said making the cocoa industry more vibrant requires that farmers are properly remunerated. It is in that regard that in the 2020/2021 crop year, the government through COCOBOD increased the producer price per tonne of cocoa from GH¢8,240 to as high as GH¢10,560, representing a 29% increase amidst the ravages posed by the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses globally.
Freeman Koryekpor 
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr.Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has called on the chiefs and custodian land owners and farmers in the cocoa growing communities to desist from their continuous habits of giving out their cocoa fertile lands to the illegal small scale miners, who activities are destroying water bodies, forest reserves and environment in the country.
Speaking in an interview with journalist in Accra, Mr Aidoo expressed worry that some cocoa farmers and chiefs in cocoa growing communities are being enticed to give their farm lands to illegal miners for galamsey.
According to him, there were clear testaments that these illegal miners are chasing farmers with money for their cocoa fertile lands, warning the farmers and chiefs and those who owned the lands to be careful.
He spoke about the health implications of the chemicals being used by the illegal small scale miners to mine on the farm lands, adding that the chemicals they used for their activities especially mercury is very harmful and dangerous acidic.
According to Mr Aidoo, the chemical will stay on the cocoa land even after mining activities by the galamseyers are over and will destroy their cocoa farm lands forever, stressing that one can also die if you come into contact with it.”
Mr. Aidoo maintained that "If you look at the benefits of cocoa farming and galamsey, that of cocoa farming far outweighs galamsey. Even when you plant your cocoa you can still decide to plant other crops on the same land. There will be no harmful chemical like mercury that will destroy your land. You will also get so many incentives and technical advice which will guarantee a bumper harvest.”
He reminded them that the government’s programmes designed exclusively for cocoa farmers will cease if revenue from the cocoa sector dwindles and therefore pleaded with the cocoa farmers not to give their farms out for galamsey.”
According to him, the government will not be able to continue with its social intervention development projects and programmes in cocoa-growing communities, particularly the construction of the good roads and also give attractive educational packages including scholarships if cocoa farmers choose to give out their cocoa farms to illegal miners.
He stated that the illegal small scale mining activities, popularly known in Ghanaian perlace as galamsey operation are serious threats to the cocoa production and warned cocoa farmers and land owners in the cocoa growing communities giving out lands for galamsey.
He pointed out that the prone mining communities across the country continue to be plagued by diseases including yaws, diabetes, asthma, tuberculosis, skin cancer among other life-threatening diseases.
The COCOBOD CEO attributed the prevalence of the above diseases in mining communities to environmental pollution as a result of the operations of miners.
According to him, these diseases were often manifested through air and water pollution, stressing that these diseases could be prevented if the cocoa farmers and chiefs and custodian owners to stop to give out their lands to galamseyers.
He therefore encouraged cocoa farmers to, instead, endeavour to follow judiciously COCOBOD’s Productivity Enhancement Programmes (PEPs) that guarantees maximize yields.
Mr Aidoo issued the caution to the cocoa farmers when he was speaking in an interview with this report to outline programmes of activities marking the 75th Anniversary of COCOBOD.
Earlier, Mr Aidoo, in his statement said the Living Income Differential (LID) continues to be the best pricing mechanism to regulate cocoa prices and cushion cocoa farmers against price volatility and external shocks to the cocoa industry.
He said making the cocoa industry more vibrant requires that farmers are properly remunerated. It is in that regard that in the 2020/2021 crop year, the government through COCOBOD increased the producer price per tonne of cocoa from GH¢8,240 to as high as GH¢10,560, representing a 29% increase amidst the ravages posed by the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses globally.
He, however, mentioned that the cocoa sector is still adversely impacted by the knock-on effect of Covid-19, hence, the Board and Management of COCOBOD have adopted stringent internal reforms to control expenditures, cut cost and reduce debt levels drastically.
It would recalled that the COCOBOD has launched the 2022 Cocoa Day celebration, earmarking a series of events which will end with a grand durbar at Suhum in the Eastern Region; the host town for this year’s celebration.
The occasion was also used to deliver a lecture to mark the 75th Anniversary of COCOBOD.
Launching the celebration, , Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Yaw Frimpong Addo who read a speech read on behalf of, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, acknowledged the pioneering role of the founding fathers of the cocoa sector, particularly, Tetteh Quarshie whose impeccable contribution, he noted, accelerated commercial production of cocoa in Ghana.
He said the theme for the celebration, “COCOBOD@75: Sustaining Our Environment, Wealth and Health” is a challenging theme that epitomizes the policy direction of the Board to protect the cocoa economy by securing sustainable farming practices alongside boosting domestic cocoa consumption.
The cocoa sector, he said, yet remains attractive and promising, following the major strategic programmes introduced to increase productivity, enhanced the welfare and living standards of cocoa farmers and support the growth of domestic cocoa processing and value-addition.
“The hand pollination, rehabilitation of cocoa farms, irrigation, pruning, and subsidized fertilizer programmes have positively influenced our production patterns over the past few years and as we scale up these initiatives in the coming year, we will have stability in our production levels”, the deputy minister said.
The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, a who delivered the 75th Anniversary lecture, called on the management of COCOBOD to restructure and retool the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to make it the leading cocoa research institution in Africa.
He noted that the sustenance and improvement of Ghana’s cocoa industry will largely depend on CRIG’s research capacity, and added that there is the need to invest heavily in the institution and tasked to conduct research into every aspect of cocoa production and related issues which confront the industry.
The solution to the current problems bedevilling the cocoa industry in the country is that “we need new approaches to cocoa production and value addition in the face of current climate change issues [and] wanton destruction of land and water bodies”, he said.
Prof. Owusu proposed a ramping up of efforts by COCOBOD to attract the youth into cocoa farming, invite private investments into local value addition and encourage domestic consumption of cocoa.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Cocoa Day celebration will begin on Saturday, 24th September 2022 with a health walk to be held concurrently in Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi for staff of COCOBOD and the general public.
On 28th September 2022, there will also be a float on some principal streets at Suhum and later, a 4-day exhibition by cocoa and chocolate producers, agrochemical and input suppliers, financial institutions, and NGOs, among others, will be officially opened at 10a.m at the Suhum Presbyterian Senior High School, Park, Suhum in the Eastern Region.
A forum on sustainable cocoa production and a cocoa quiz competition will be held the following day.
Again, four selected Senior High Schools from the Region will take part in an Inter SHS Cocoa Football Gala Competition on Friday, 30th September 2022. Later that evening there will be a Cocoa Night Concert.
The climax will be a Grand Durbar at the Suhum Presbyterian Senior High School Park on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
