Brekumanso (E/R), Feb 28, GNA - Mr Sam Quartey, a cocoa marketing cl= erk of the Produce Buying Company (PBC) has called on cocoa farmers to apply recommended insecticides on their farms. Mr Quartey said the practice would ensure that the country continued t= o merit the premium placed on its cocoa beans.

He was interacting with some cocoa farmers at Brekumanso in the West Akim District on Sunday.

He said the mass cocoa spraying exercise introduced years back would help increase the crop yield if farmers embraced it. Mr Quartey said the practice by which most farmers use unapproved chemicals, to control the capsid disease, black pod and other pests was not healthy. He expressed concern about the failure of some cocoa farmers to have their farms sprayed, although they were infested with pests that destroyed cocoa beans. The marketing clerk urged farmers to clear their farms before spraying the cocoa trees in order to have a high yield, since swollen shoot diseases was hampering the efforts of the cocoa farmers.