Cocoa farmers in the country are to benefit from 60 million cocoa free hybrid cocoa seedlings as part of measures being put in place to shore up the country's cocoa production with the view to enhancing their livelihood.

Farmers in the Ashanti Region will receive 10.2 million of the seedlings during this crop season, Ashanti Regional Director of Cocobod, Faustina Asamany, disclosed this to TV3 online at a consultative meeting by the Supreme Consultative Council of COCOBOD and chief cocoa farmers, in Kumasi.

Last year, COCOBOD distributed 50 million cocoa seedlings to farmers nationwide, out of which Ashanti region benefitted from 5.5 million seedlings.

But Mrs Asamany said the quantity was inadequate to reach most farmers. “The seedlings we gave to the farmers last year were woefully inadequate. Many farmers did not get seedlings to plant, so there was the need to increase the quantum of the seedlings,” she said

She said it is against this backdrop that Cocobod has this season doubled the distribution of high yielding, early maturing and disease-resistance seedlings to farmers in the region.

The Manager also indicated that under the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), free fertilizers would be distributed to farmers to increase yield and ease their financial burdens.
She, however, stated that farms infected with the cocoa swollen shoot virus do not qualify for the fertilizer package.

Meanwhile, some cocoa farmers have commended the government for the effort towards improving the livelihood of cocoa farmers and increasing production.

They however urged COCOBOD to solve some challenges in relations to distribution of fertilizer and scholarship for wards of cocoa farmers.
In a related development, the Supreme Consultative Council of Cocobod has met with leadership of cocoa farmers across the country to deliberate on measures to increase productivity.

The meeting was aimed at educating the farmers on their rights and responsibilities to enable them to get fair treatment from cocoa purchasing clerks.

It was also to brief the COCOBOD staff on the formation of the Cocoa Board Workers Union, a move to break away from the Ghana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU).

The Chairman of the Supreme Consultative Council of Cocobod, Alhaji Iddris Hassan attributed the country's inability to meet its cocoa production targets partly to poor weather conditions.

“The government and management of COCOBOD cannot be blamed for the low yield of cocoa because the nation depended mostly on natural rainfall for farming purposes and any reverse in the rainfall pattern adversely affect the farming industry in general”.

Alhaji Iddrissu added that “fatigue of the cocoa trees” also played a role in the decline of cocoa production.

“The Cocoa Research Institute is trying to modify certain things by cutting down the fatigue cocoa trees and replanting to meet the ultimate intent.”

He was hopeful that, the country will meet its 2016 target of cocoa production by the close of year.