By Isaac Arkoh
Assin-Nyamebekyere (C/R), Sept. 08, GNA – The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) through the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), has pledged to distribute 113,000 bags of cocoa fertilizer to boost production in the Assin South Districts of the Centre Region.
The fertilizer would be distributed to hundreds of farmers in about 207 farmer cooperative groups.
Mr Isaac Sarfo Afram, the District Director of CHED announced this when he supervised the distribution of about 500 fertilizers to some farmers at Assin Nyame-Bekyere, a cocoa growing community in the district.
The intervention was to ensure that farmers, who used hybrid seeds, got enough fertilizer to feed their crops.
He said his outfit with the support of the farmer groups had pruned the farms of some selected farmers to pave the way for the application of the fertilizers.
The farmer cooperatives were used to ensure that the government-sponsored fertilizer and agrochemicals were fairly distributed to the rightful beneficiaries.
Mr Afram told the beneficiary farmers to adhere to expert advice from the extension agents and desist from smuggling the fertilizers to other areas for sale since the security agencies were on the alert to arrest any farmer who sells the fertilizers and the buyer as well.
They should regularly maintain their farms to get good yields since farm maintenance was key in cocoa production.
Also, he encouraged all cocoa farmers to join or form farmer cooperatives to benefit from the COCOBOD programmes and policies.
Some beneficiary farmers commended the government for the move to boost cocoa production and pledged to put them to effective use.
GNA