Ghana records all-time highest in cocoa production in 2021

Mr Fiifi Boafo, Senior Public Affairs Manager of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has divulged that Ghana for the first time in history recorded the highest rate in cocoa production in the year 2021.

He said even though there were challenges with exportation following the closure of some Ports due to the COVID-19 pandemic which lead to some delays in the release of funds to farmers after-sales, production went up as against any other previous year.

Mr Boafo who disclosed this in an interview with Kwame Offei, host of Adzekye Mu Nsem on Spice FM in Takoradi said more money was received by cocoa farmers indicating an increase in the income paid to farmers as compared to the previous years in the history of cocoa production in the country. 

He announced that the year 2021 under review saw the introduction of innovation in cocoa production, making sure that cocoa production benefited the country tremendously thereby improving the lives of cocoa farmers.

He enumerated that the cocoa farmers were registered and their data such as the location of the farm, size of farm and the needs of the farmers were collected to enable the farmers to be put on the farmers’ pension scheme.

Touching on improving the distribution of fertilizers to the farmers, he announced that cocoa farmer cooperatives were formed by the cocoa farmers and registered under COCOBOD to manage the distribution of the fertilizers hitherto was characterised by politics.

According to him, with the kind of arrangements made under the initiative, the farmers had easy access to the fertilizers in that fertilizers were sent directly to the villages where the farmers operate hitherto were sent to the district so that the farmers go there to pick making it difficult for some farmers who came from the hinterlands.

Mr Boafo mentioned mass pruning as one of the innovations introduced and said pruning was a challenge to the farmers and for that matter the Government procured devices that could make pruning more easy and efficient, bringing some relief to the farmers and better yields.

He noted that farmers resorted to traditional methods of farming hence, the introduction of irrigation systems as an alternative to rainfall due to the unreliable rainfall pattern in the country.