Goaso (B/A), Nov. 1, GNA - Mr Fleance Danso, Asunafo South District Chief Executive, has appealed to the government to create more cocoa spraying gangs so all cocoa growing areas would benefit from the on-going cocoa spraying exercise.

He appealed to Ghanaians not to politicize the exercise "since cocoa is the major contributor to the national economy". The DCE made the appeal when he paid a working visit to a number of farming communities in the district to acquaint himself with the progress of the exercise.

Some of the communities he visited were Dodowa, Thousand Acre, Denyasi, Camp No. 1 and Mintumi.

Later in an interview with the Ghana News Agency Mr. Danso asked the cocoa spraying gangs to keep the insecticides with the chiefs and chief farmers to prevent them from being diverted for other purposes. He warned that allegations of malpractices against members of the spraying gangs would be investigated and culprits would be handed over to the police.

Mr Danso stressed the need for the gangs to be committed to their work and to eschew negative practices that could affect cocoa production.

He urged the gangs and cocoa farmers to be tolerant and co-operate to ensure the success of the exercise and advised the gangs to constitute monitoring teams to check the pilfering and diversion of spraying machines, insecticides and Wellington boots provided for the exercise.

Mr Danso said he would not spare gang members caught selling or diverting the insecticides.