WOMEN LEAD THE CHARGE FOR GHANA’S COCOA REVOLUTION

Date: 15th December 2023

The Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Hon Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has lauded female cocoa farmers for their contribution to the growth and development of the country’s cocoa industry.

According to him, it is refreshing to note that many women are thriving cocoa farmers; a development which he said, was very positive for the growth and sustainability of the industry.

Addressing the 2023 national best cocoa farmers and shea nut picker at a ceremony organized at the Cocoa House to formally present their award prizes to them, Hon Aidoo said the fact that this year’s award is dominated by female cocoa farmers debunks the long-held notion that women are marginalized in terms of ownership and access to land for farming.

Three female cocoa farmers swept national awards at this year’s edition, including the National Best Cocoa Farmer, the National Most Enterprising Cocoa Farmer and the National Best Shea Nut Picker awards.

Commending the awardees for their show of patriotism and selflessness, Hon Aidoo regretted the ever-increasing spate of cocoa smuggling and the alleged complicity of some cocoa farmers. He lamented the fact that investments being made into the cocoa industry by government through various interventions were going down the drain following the decision by some farmers to sell their produce outside the shores of the country.

“Your continuous show of patriotism will forever be recognized and rewarded; today Ghana continues to grapple with smuggling. We are losing a lot of our produce to neighbouring countries because some farmers have chosen to smuggle out their produce outside, despite benefitting from the huge interventions being rolled out by the government” the COCOBOD boss lamented.

Hon. Aidoo cited the deplorable situation in the Volta and Oti Regions, revealing that the latest figure from the two regions, indicates a paltry 4.69-tonne of cocoa for the year 2023. This, according to him, was a result of smuggling. He, therefore, called on the media to shine a light on incidents of smuggling to help deal with the menace.

The Board Chairman of COCOBOD, Mr Peter Mac Manu, on his part, praised the award winners for religiously following the training and agronomic services offered to them by cocoa extension agents in their various communities.

He charged them to continue to serve as ambassadors and encourage their colleague cocoa farmers to also embrace the various Productivity Enhancement Programmes (PEPs) being rolled out by COCOBOD.

Meanwhile, the reigning National Best Cocoa Farmer, Mad. Adwoa Sintim, hs attributed her production success to strict enforcement of pruning and the adoption of other interventions such as hand pollination and rehabilitation.

Speaking on behalf of the award winners, Mad. Sintim, who was full of commendation for the management of COCOBOD revealed that ever since she embraced the pruning exercise, following advice from the cocoa extension agents in her area, she has seen huge increases in yields per acre on her farm.

According to her, though she was initially hesitant about allowing extension officers to cut down some of her cocoa trees, she reluctantly gave in after much persuasion, stating elatedly that she now wishes they could cut more.

“At first I didn’t want them to touch my cocoa trees, I fought with them because I was not happy but today, I want them to come and cut more because it has really benefitted me,” she said.

The National Best Cocoa Farmer therefore called on her colleague farmers to embrace the interventions being rolled out by COCOBOD to increase their yields.

National Best Cocoa Farmer
The 70-year-old Mad. Adwoa Sintim, who won the overall National Best Cocoa Farmer with a total crop yield of 75,460.96kg and 3,025.70kg per hectare, took home one Toyota Hilux double cabin pick-up, 1 standard pruner, 1 carton royale & 1 carton 50g chocolate, a plaque, 2 polo shirts, 2 overalls with hat and 2 safety goggles. others are 2 respirators, ear an protector, 2 hand gloves, 2 Wellington boots and a motorized sprayer.

National Most Enterprising Female Cocoa Farmer
This category was won by 64-year-old Mad. Faustina Asamoah. With a yearly yield of 55,988.78 kg and 2,488.39kg/ha, Mad. Faustina Asamoah took home 1 single cabin mini truck, 1 tricycle, 1 standard pruner, a carton each of royal and 50g chocolate, a plaque, polo t-shirts, a hat, safety goggles, respirators, ear protectors, hand gloves, wellington boots, a motorized sprayer, and a cash sum of Gh¢100,000 from world cocoa foundation.

National Most Promising Young Cocoa Farmer
Thirty-five-year-old Mr George Opoku Koduah won the National Most Promising Young Cocoa Farmer.  With a yearly crop yield of 47,983.35kg and average productivity of 2,367.21kg/ha, Mr Opoku Koduah took home 1 single cabin mini truck, 1 tricycle, 1 standard pruner, a carton each of royal and 50g chocolate, a plaque, polo t-shirts, a hat, safety goggle, respirators, ear protectors, hand gloves, wellington boots, a motorized sprayer and a tricycle donated by the World Cocoa Foundation.

National Best Shea Nut Picker
This award category was won by Sumaila Rukaya from Wa in the Upper West Region. She took home a tricycle, 5 pairs of hand gloves, 2 pairs of Wellington boots, overalls with hat, a polo shirt, 4 torchlights, a carton each of royal cocoa and 50g chocolate, 4 machetes and a plaque.

National Best Coffee Farmer
Mr Paul Kwame Baffoe also won the National Best Coffee Farmer and was presented with a tricycle, 6 hand gloves, a carton each of royal and 50g chocolate, a plaque, polo t-shirts, a hat, safety goggles, respirators, ear protectors, hand gloves, wellington boots and a motorized sprayer.