President John Mahama has advised cocoa farmers in the country to cut down their old cocoa trees and go for free seedlings for replanting and assured farmers of continuous government support.
“If you are a cocoa farmer and your cocoa plants are old, cut them down and go for free seedlings for replanting. The old cocoa plants do not give good yields. So cut the old trees down and go for the hybrid free seedlings, you will start reaping the benefit in less than four years. We assure cocoa farmers government is solidly behind them.
“We are also giving out free cocoa inputs like fertilizers. This is the first time this is happening. Hitherto the cocoa inputs were only subsidized for the farmers. But this time around government is making them available to the farmers completely free, said President Mahama at Ahomahomaso in the Fanteakwa North in the Eastern region.
He explained the old plants do not give the farmers enough yields which in turn affect production of cocoa in the country adding that government’s investments in the cocoa sector will soon payoff with increased yields.
The country is currently the number two leading producer of cocoa in the world. Sometime back the country was able to overtake Cote D’Ivoire as the leading producer of the cash crop only to eventually surrender it again.
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