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08.05.2007 General News

Cocoa farmers go to school

08.05.2007 LISTEN
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A Senior Communication Officer of Strategic Communications Africa Limited (STRATCOM), Mr Macdonald Bubuama has called on cocoa farmers to adopt and use modern agricultural technologies to increase their yields.

He said they should embrace modern agricultural technologies and methods, which would increase their yields and improve their incomes.

Mr Bubuama made the call at a two-day workshop for 27 selected cocoa farmers from the Atwima-Mponua district organized by STRATCOM in collaboration with Sustainable Tree Crop Programme (STCP), the World Cocoa Foundation and USAID at Nyinahin on Friday.

The workshop, which was under the theme "Sensitising the education of cocoa farmers to help improve the economy", was aimed at helping the farmers to change the old ways of farming, which does not yield enough to the detriment of the economy.

Mr Bubuama said cocoa is a socio-economic asset of Ghana and therefore, more resources must be channelled into the cocoa industry to enable the country to increase its exports.

Mr Isaac Gyamfi, Country Director of STCP, said so far over 200 farmers drawn from Atwima-Mponua and Atwima-Nwabiagya districts in Ashanti as well as some districts in the Western region have benefited from the programme, which had seen about 40 per cent increase in cocoa yields yearly since 2003.

Miss Afua Serwaa, a student and a participant called on the youth to discard the notion that farming was for the aged and urged them to venture into it.

The participants expressed their gratitude to the organizers and pledged to impart the knowledge acquired to their colleagues.

Source: GNA

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