COCOBOD'S FIGHT TO REHABILITATE DISEASE FARMS ACROSS GHANA

By Jubi Gloria

Cocoa cultivation has been going on in Ghana since 1895 when a blacksmith, Tetteh Quarshie first brought it into the Country. Since then, Ghana has remained one of the leading producers in the world of Cocoa.

 
Since the first cultivation of Cocoa in the Eastern Region of Ghana, the cash crop has remained the backbone of the country's economy. But the industry is now being threatened by the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease with over 500,000 hectares of Cocoa affected and reducing the productive areas to about 1.3 million hectares.

During an interaction the CEO of COCOBOD, he said Cocoa has been the mainstay of Ghana for many years, so if farmers have run into crisis COCOBOD must go to their aid. Joseph Boahen Aidoo further said that they have put interventions in place to rehabilitate all the diseased farms, particularly those affected by CSSVD. He stressed the effort is a capital-intensive exercise and specifically said" If the exercise is left to the farmers to cut and replant, it will be virtually impossible".

Mr Boahene Aidoo also explained that ordinarily, a 10-acre farm means the farmer has spent 15 to 20 years establishing it. Thus when disease strikes and he has to cut every Cocoa tree down it is extremely difficult.

The fight against the Swollen Shoot is being led by COCOBOD, which is cutting down affected trees and replanting for the farmers. The CEO of COCOBOD touched on the process saying " We do the cutting for the farmers and then we provide a chemical called "aboricide" to make sure that the tree stumps do not re-germinate". Plantain is also introduced into the farm to create shade for the cocoa trees"

COCOBOD's CEO emphasized that the plantain suckets are supplied by COCOBOD free of charge, with the Board also helping beneficiary farmers maintain their farms for two years. So far this rehabilitation has been carried out in several Cocoa farms that were diseased with CSSVD. The CEO of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo concluded by saying his visits to Sankore and other areas in Ghana revealed the rehabilitated farms are thriving.