Kofiase (Ash), Sept 8, GNA - A total of 18,957.7 hectares of cocoa farms were sprayed against Black pod and Capsid diseases in the Mass Cocoa Spraying Exercise (MCSE) in the Asante-Mampong Municipality last year. Mr Akwasi Amanfo Bio-Frimpong, Municipal Officer in-charge of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) Control Unit of Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), announced this at a farmers' forum at Kofiase near Mampong.

The forum, organized by COCOBOD and attended by over 300 farmers, aimed at educating the farmers on interventions and measures introduced by government to revamp the cocoa industry.

He said the CSSVD Control Unit has targeted to cover over 22,000 hectares this year and advised the spraying team to work harder to ensure the attainment of the objective.

Mr Bio-Frimpong said it was the commitment of the government to put in place effective and pragmatic measures to recapture the position as world's leading producer of cocoa.

He mentioned the recommended insecticides for spraying of cocoa farms as Actara, Confidor and Akate Master and appealed to farmers to use only those insecticides.

The Cocoa Officer urged farmers to weed their farms and provide water to the team to ensure the success of the exercise.

Mr Bio-Frimpong said the only remedy to the swollen shoot disease was to cut down the cocoa trees and plant new ones and assured farmers who agreed to cut down their infected trees of compensation.

Mr Nicholas Darko, Assistant Officer in-charge of the Seed Production Unit (SPU) of COCOBOD at Jamasi in the Sekyere South District, said the Unit nursed and distributed 700,000 cocoa seedlings to farmers for planting last year, and expressed the hope that 1,000,000 seedlings would be supplied to them this year. Mr E.A. Donkor, Quality Control Officer of COCOBOD in-charge of Sekyere East District, urged farmers to ferment their cocoa beans for at least six days and ensure that the beans were well dried before selling them to the buying companies.

Nana Otuo Agyei Acheampong, Chief of Kofiase, promised to fund the servicing of the spraying machines sent to the town.