Nkawkaw, Dec 06, GNA - Over 6,000 bags of hi-tech fertilizer meant for distribution to cocoa farmers in the Kwahu South and Kwahu West districts by Licensed Buying Companies (LBC) in June and July have been abandoned in warehouses in the two districts.

This is due to the failure of cocoa farmers to pay for the commodity the LBCs supplied to them last year. The Kwahu West District Chief Farmer, Mr Sampson Osei-Appiah, said this at the Produce Buying Company's (PBC) Cocoa Farmers Awards day at Nkawkaw to reward 142 cocoa farmers selected from 36 societies in the Kwahu area.

He said the LBCs guaranteed the fertilizers for the farmers but expressed regret that most of the farmers failed to sell their cocoa beans to the LBCs for them to deduct the cost of the fertilizer from their sales.

As a result, cocoa farmers in the two districts did not benefit from the hi-tech programme this cocoa season and this might affect cocoa production in the area next season.

He advised cocoa farmers to ferment their cocoa beans for the six-day period to reduce the high rate of purple and flat beans for the country to maintain its premium quality position on the world market. Mr Gershon Kpikpitse, the Eastern Regional Manager of the PBC, said the government had released adequate funds to all registered LBCs and the PBC for the purchase of cocoa beans this cocoa season. The farmers were presented with Wellington boots, cutlasses, solar lamps, pieces of wax prints and certificates as their awards.