Executives of the Cocoa Chocolate Association of Japan (CCAJ) met with Management of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) at Cocoa House in Accra to discuss issues of mutual concern, bothering on the use of agro-chemicals for cocoa production and shipment of cocoa from Ghana to Japan.
Opening the meeting, Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Mr. Tony Fofie, said COCOBOD continue to educate farmers to use only chemicals approved by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) on their cocoa farms to avoid possible rejection of cocoa beans by overseas buyers including CCAJ.
He lamented the difficulty involved in monitoring the thousands of smallholder farmers that make up the Ghana cocoa industry. “With smallholder farming, it is difficult to control the farmers unlike the case of large plantations”, he said. He added that COCOBOD would continuously explore ways of monitoring the efficient use of chemicals on cocoa farms to reduce the incidence of chemical residues in our cocoa.
Mr. Fofie was optimistic that with the numerous prudent agronomic measures being implemented by the Board, Ghana's cocoa would continue to meet the required standard. “We have a programme where at the start of the cocoa season, we educate farmers and sprayers on the correct dosage of chemicals to be used on the crops”, he added.
Speaking on behalf of the Japanese delegation, Mr. Kenji Kaminaga, Vice President of CCAJ, expressed his appreciation to COCOBOD for its continuous support for the growth of the Japanese chocolate industry.
He said the Japanese Government was very keen on the levels of chemical residues present in all food materials entering the country and that COCOBOD must ensure that chemicals with active ingredients such as Fenvalerate, Endosulfan, Chlorpyrifos, Pirimiphos-methyl and Profenofos were not found in the cocoa beans.
The two institutions deliberated on how best to test the cocoa beans at the exit ports to ensure quality and prompt shipment to Japan. The Association indicated plans to send an expert to help the Quality Control Company of COCOBOD to sharpen skills for testing chemical residues.
Other COCOBOD officials at the meeting were the Deputy Chief Executive in Charge of Agronomy and Quality Control, Managing Directors and Deputy Managing Directors of the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) and Quality Control Company Ltd (QCCL) as well as some Directors and Managers of the Board.
Story by Ghana/COCOBOD
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