Accra, Aug. 7, GNA - The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has said it would continue to fight against black pod disease and capsid pest in all the cocoa growing regions to benefit cocoa farmers without any discrimination.

A statement issued by the Public Affairs Department of COCOBOD in Accra on Thursday said: "COCOBOD would want to reiterate its position that the diseases and pests, which hamper high cocoa production, do not discriminate between cocoa farms. "Hence the fight against black pod disease and capsid pest in all the cocoa growing regions would continue to benefit all cocoa farmers without any discrimination whatsoever on the basis of gender, religion, tribe or political affiliation."

The statement said COCOBOD was ever conscious of the fact that the livelihood of over six million people, including cocoa farmers and their dependants, hinged directly on cocoa, and therefore the Board had the onerous responsibility to ensure the well-being of cocoa farmers through increased productivity.

It said the mass spraying (CODAPEC) programme had raised cocoa production from 350,000 tonnes from its inception in 2001 to the present level of over 740,000 tonnes. It stated that the objective of COCOBOD was to reach a target of one million tonnes by the year 2010/2011 through continued spraying against diseases and pests as well as the application of fertilizer to improve soil fertility.

The statement said farmer education on proper agronomic practices and other programmes were well on course. It announced that meanwhile, the 2008 CODAPEC programme for the spraying against black pod diseases and capsid pests had started in all the cocoa growing areas. It was the expectation of COCOBOD that all cocoa farmers would co-operate by weeding their farms, removing mistletoes and fetching water for use by the sprayers, the statement added. COCOBOD advised the local taskforce members to ensure that inputs such as insecticides, fungicides, premix petrol and spraying machines were kept safely while they also monitored their proper use to safeguard any possible misapplication. COCOBOD urged cocoa farmers to report any distressing matter relating to the CODAPEC programme to their respective District Chief Executives or the District CODAPEC Co-ordinators for immediate redress.