About 2,000 cocoa farmers from eight districts in the Western and Ashanti regions, have passed out, after completing a capacity building course at Sefwi Wiawso in the Western Region.
The course was run at the Farmers Field School and the Farmers Business School under the auspices of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
The course formed part of the Second Phase of the Cocoa Sector Support Project (CSSP11) funded by the European Union (EU) and the Sustainable Tree Crops Programme (STCP) component of the CSSP11.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Mr Kofi Mensah, Sefwi Wiawso District Chief Executive, said the CSSP11 aims at promoting sustainable
cocoa production while reducing negative environmental impacts.
He said the project has already trained cocoa farmers in 36 cocoa growing communities in the Western Region and 24 communities in the Ashanti Region.
Mr Mensah said it is estimated that 800,000 farm families depend on cocoa for survival while the farming communities contribute over two- thirds of household income.
He appealed to development partners to introduce new interventions and innovations to enable cocoa farmers to improve their living conditions.
He said government is registering cocoa farmers to be hooked to the National Pension Scheme in order to better their lot.
Mr Isaac Gyamfi, Country Manager of ITTA and STCP said the graduates were trained in integrated crop and pest management and planting, replanting and diversification and agribusiness.
He said topic treated included pruning of cocoa trees, integration of timber trees in cocoa systems, Blackpod management, rational pesticide use within soil fertility management and nursery establishment and management.
Dr Yaw Adu Ampomah, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), said despite the contribution of cocoa to the economy of the country, the sector is beset with countless challenges.
He listed some of the problems as inadequate adoption of improved technologies, lack of skills of farmers to adopt technologies, deforestation
resulting from expansion of cocoa farms, poor organisation in cocoa communities in accessing production support services, pest and disease
related problems and lack of basic business skills to facilitate farm enterprise management.
He said COCOBOD is taking measures to ensure that the challenges are addressed.
The interventions include mass spraying of farms against myriads of diseases such as the Blackpod and the Cocoa Hi-tech programme to assist farmers to use fertilisers and agro-pesticides.
Dr Ampomah said as a public-private partnership innovative platform, the STCP has been able to pull together various private and public organisations to facilitate measures that are geared towards enhancing the sector and improving the livelihoods of the cocoa farmer.
He said the EU, the STCP, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana and the Seed Production Unit are actively working together to ensure that the output of smallholder cocoa farmers are increased.
He said this drive would contribute towards COCOBOD's target of exporting one million tonnes of cocoa in the medium term and increasing
income of smallholder cocoa farmers.
Mr Kurt Cornelis, Head of Co-operation of the Delegation of the EU in Ghana, said the implementation period of less than four years of the CSSP 11 is relatively short, so the interventions and modalities developed by the
project need to be fully supported by all stakeholders.
He commended the government for agreeing to initial Interim Economic Partnership Agreement, which he said would allow Ghana to benefit from
continued duty and quota free access of raw and processed cocoa products to the European market.
Mr Cornelis said the EU had committed five million Euros for CSSP 11 spanning 2007 to 2011.
The farmers were drawn from Bekwai Municipality, Ahafo Ano North, Amansie Central and Adansi South districts in the Ashanti Region and Bia, Juabeso, Sefwi Wiawso and Wassa Amenfi East districts of the Western Region.