Samuel Amissah, Project Development Manager
Produce Buying Company (PBC) Limited has
organised training for cocoa farmers at Esiama in the Western Region to educate
them on good agricultural practices to help increase yield.
The farmers were taken through
Integrated Pest Management, Good Environmental Practices, Post Harvest
Management as well as Forest Protection and Restoration.
The essence of the training was among
other things to help the cocoa farmers know how and when to apply fertilizers
and other chemicals on their farms to help them produce cocoa on sustainable
basis and to obtain higher yield.
The initiative was also to help the
farmers increase their income and improve their living standards.
Speaking to journalists during the training
programme, Alfred Ofori Annye, Deputy Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of PBC in charge of Operations, noted that the cocoa farmers were
also made to understand the importance of protecting the forest.
“Not only the forest but the
environment also to help combat climate change which had adverse effects on
farming activities,” he added.
He used the occasion to debunk the
perception by some people that PBC had collapsed and assured the cocoa farmers
that the company had the requisite resources to purchase their produce.
“PBC has had some financial challenges
for the past five years, but the current government has provided the financial
support to PBC to purchase cocoa this October”, he pointed out.
He stated that “the necessary documents
are being processed in anticipation of government’s financial support in the
first week of October, 2019 to purchase cocoa. Let me assure the cocoa farmers
again that PBC is going to purchase cocoa this October”.
He also appealed to the cocoa farmers to
take advantage of the government’s initiatives such as mass cocoa spraying,
pruning and the cutting down of all swollen shoot affected cocoa trees, to
prevent the spread of the viral disease.
Samuel Amissah, Project Development
Manager at the Inputs Certification Unit of PBC, indicated that cocoa farmers
used to harvest about 16 or 20 bags on one acre farm but unfortunately they are
currently harvesting less than 10 bags.
“So the training will be carried out in
all the cocoa producing districts nationwide to assist the farmers with the
requisite knowledge to help them increase production”, he added.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
