We would ensure that all cocoa farms are sprayed - Sefwi-Wiawso MCE

Amafie (W/R), Sept 20, GNA – The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sefwi-Wiawso, Mr Lawrence Ackah Santana, has vowed to ensure that all cocoa farms in the area are covered by the mass spraying gangs to boost crop yield.

He said as a result of this the number of gangs in the Municipality have been increased to ensure that no farm was left out saying they would do everything to maintain their position as a major cocoa producing enclave.

He said this when speaking at a ceremony to hand over 300 new weighing scales and solar lights to farmers at Amafie near Sefwi-Wiawso.

The scales are meant to help eliminate cheating by unscrupulous cocoa purchasing clerks.

Mrs Santana said he was confident that the farmers would be motivated to expand their farms to sustain the industry that had over the years remained the backbone of the nation's economy.

Mr Mohammed Alhassan, the Deputy Western Regional Manager of Quality Control Company Limited, appealed to the farmers to help check the smuggling of cocoa into the country saying this was necessary to prevent compromising the quality of Ghana's beans.

He also advised them to keep to best practices like taking the beans through proper fermentation processes and ensuring that they were well dried before selling them to the licensed buying companies.

Madam Faustina Asumani, Western Regional Manager of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit (CSSVDCU), announced that about 5.4 million cocoa seedlings had been supplied to farmers for planting in the region.

She discouraged the farmers from engaging children in worst forms of labour.

Nana Nicholas Cobbina, the Regional Chief Farmer, said they were grateful to the government for the supply of the weighing scales.

GNA