Bunso (Eastern Region) 19th July 99 -

Despite its current low price on the international market, cocoa looks set to surpass gold as the country's leading foreign exchange earner over the next few years, Mr Kenneth Brew, a Deputy Director of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has predicted.

To achieve this would, however, depend greatly on effective collaboration between the extension staff of COCOBOD and cocoa farmers for sustainable increased output.

Mr Brew said this when he addressed the closing session a 12-day workshop organised for various categories of senior staff of COCOBOD and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) at Bunso Cocoa College.

The workshop is part of preparations for the planned absorption of extension staff of the Cocoa Services Division (CSD) by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).

The 47 participants, comprising District Directors of MOFA from the Volta, Eastern and Ashanti regions, were taken through topics like cocoa and coffee agronomy, pests/diseases of cocoa and coffee, extension programme planning and education.

Mr Ernest Mallet, Assistant Director of the MOFA, said the Ministry puts great emphasis on extension services in its efforts to improve cocoa production, notwithstanding, the falling price of cocoa on the world market.

He explained that the on-going training workshops were aimed at equipping participants with the requisite skills to perform their duties, adding that the Ministry was considering further courses at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) for them.

The Executive Director of the CSD, Dr S.T. Ampofo, said the proposed absorption programme should promote the cocoa industry for the sake of the country's economy.