By P.K. Yankey
Manso-Amenfi (W/R), April 05, GNA – Mr Samuel Osei, the Manager of the Western-South Cocoa Region, says COCOBOD has intensified its field tour engagement with cocoa farmers as part of measures to boost productivity.
The move, he said, was aimed at educating farmers to adopt sound farming practices to maintain their farms and improve upon their standards of living.
Mr Osei was addressing cocoa farmers at Manso-Amenfi in the Western-South region as part of his regular field tours to inspect progress of work on the Bud Management Technique (BMT) site, where healthy plantain suckers were being raised for cocoa farmers free of charge, under the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme.
Mr Osei was accompanied on the tour by Mr Michael Okoampa-Agyemang, the Western-South Cocoa Regional Officer in charge of Operations.
He advised farmers to undertake farming practices such as pruning, pollination, weeding, cutting down diseased or cocoa trees which had become moribund, and urged them to intersperse their farms with economic shade trees.
He also urged farmers to desist from the practice of applying unapproved chemicals on their farms but to rely on the ones approved by COCOBOD.
Mr Osei assured the farmers of COCOBOD’s constant visits and interactions with them to address their concerns.
GNA