Accra Aug. 14, GNA – The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) says it will complete all ongoing cocoa road projects across the country.
It also said no new project would be initiated due to the current Government financial bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD explained that due diligence sustainable production by the European Union (EU) and the IMF programme permitted continuation of existing projects.
He was speaking to journalists at a symposium to mark the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Cocoa Clinic.
The construction of cocoa roads is to help resolve transport issues pertaining to the delivery of agro-inputs to cocoa farmers and to facilitate cocoa bean evacuation.
The roads also allow residents in cocoa growing areas to have easy access to healthcare and other important social amenities to ensure rapid development.
“The EU sent a team last year to do due diligence on sustainable production and, a member of the delegation wanted to know why COCOBOD has been involved in cocoa roads construction because it is not a core business of COCOBOD, and the said member of delegation insisted that we take that venture out of our equation, and the IMF is also saying the same thing. They say that we can continue with what we are currently constructing and not start new ones,” Mr Boahen reportedly said.
Mr Boahen explained that the establishment of healthcare centres in cocoa-growing communities was to improve farmers’ access to medical care and reduce the travel burden.
“I have had the experience where a woman, who was in labour and couldn’t deliver in 2001 had to be carried in a hammock and travelled over 28 kilometers and couldn’t survive.
“When we look at the countryside to see how our cocoa farmers struggle to access health delivery, you will be touched to do something, that is why, as an institution, it is important to bring health services and facilities closer to these farmers as possible,” Mr Boahen stated.
GNA