Cocoa farmers will buy motorized slashers from COCOBOD with flexible payment terms

Company News of Saturday, July 13, 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2019-07-13

The Ghana Cocoa Council (COCOBOD) announced the conclusion of a project to buy motorized grinders for use in cocoa farms by October for weeding and pruning purposes.

COCOBOD will purchase motorized slicers from the manufacturers and give them to cocoa farmers' cooperatives with flexible payment terms. The payment will be spread out over a reasonable period of time to make things easier, so that farmers can pay on time.

The introduction of slashers is in line with the badurance given to cocoa farmers earlier this year by COCOBOD chief executive, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, during his tour of cocoa farms across the country.

He then told farmers that the tool would be provided to them at an affordable price and with flexible payment terms.

The head of COCOBOD, which announced the conclusion of the purchase plan, announced that the cutters would arrive in the country by October next and would be distributed to farmers members of cooperatives in their different districts.

He was speaking in Kumasi during the national launch of agricultural cooperatives in the cocoa sector.

The move to the use of motorized slicers aims to reduce the heavy use of machetes and hoes for weeding.

The chore badociated with this method of weeding forces some farmers to choose the apparently easy application of weed killers on their farms, which has very bad consequences for cocoa trees and destroys soil fertility, hence the ban on COCOBOD. use weed killers.

The use of motorized slashers is also linked to COCOBOD's plan to shift the cocoa farming paradigm from a simple farm business to a more lucrative and sustainable business opportunity, as well as a broad, attractive employment pathway. so young people.

Farmer Cooperatives is a joint initiative of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CED) of COCOBOD and GTZ to improve the delivery of extension services and to influence a change in perception of cocoa farmers and to accept the new concept of managing their farms as a viable business.

The cooperatives will help cocoa farmers to more effectively adopt the different productivity enhancement programs implemented independently by COCOBOD.

It will also help farmers to receive training and technical recommendations on best agricultural practices that will lead to higher yields in the same field and improve farmers' access to credit from financial institutions.

In addition, cooperatives will be responsible for managing input stores to facilitate access to agricultural inputs, while badisting farmers to implement self-sustaining development projects in their communities.

Hn. Boahen Aidoo said plans were also made to help and encourage the establishment of farmer services companies in cocoa districts and regions to provide farmers with essential services such as weeding cacao plantations. size, spraying and others.

COCOBOD also employs introducing technology into cocoa farming to help farmers receive information about their farms on time.

All this, he said, aims to make cocoa farming a lucrative business to attract young people and other investments in the sector.

It also aims to improve the incomes and living conditions of cocoa farmers, pillars of the country's economy.

Aidoo said the creation of cooperatives was intended to lay a solid foundation for cocoa farming to ensure that farmers get the most out of their efforts and sweat.

He said that all productivity improvement programs implemented by COCOBOD would be channeled through the cooperatives, adding that these would provide a guarantee for farmers to have access to bank loans.

Aidoo called on all cocoa producers to join the cooperatives in order to benefit from the many interventions.

Mr. George Boahen Oduro, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Perennial Crops, said the government remains committed to improving the welfare and living conditions of cocoa farmers.