Mr. Joseph Boateng, Best Farmer for 2010-2011 in Asunafo North Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region, has advised purchasing clerks and farmers to desist from smuggling cocoa.

This would enable the country to re-capture her status as the world’s leading producer and exporter of the produce.

He stressed that the obnoxious practice was counter-productive and failure to stamp it out could destroy the country’s cocoa industry.

Mr Boateng, who gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Kramokrom in the Municipality appealed to the Government to beef up security at the Western borders of the country to effectively control smuggling, especially of cocoa.

The best farmer, himself a purchasing clerk, warned that he would not overtly or covertly support any of his colleague purchasing clerks or a cocoa farmer to engage in the practice.

Rather, he said, he would personally alert and assist the security agencies to arrest smugglers of the produce to a neighbouring country to face the full rigours of the law.

Mr Boateng appealed to the Government to provide the necessary inputs to enable cocoa farmers to increase production and called on farmers to adopt modern agricultural practices to increase their yields.