A cocoa farmer has testified to the superior quality of the fertiliser at the centre of the trial of a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, and businessman, Alhaji Seidu Agongo.

The farmer, Samuel Torbi, told the trial court under cross-examination that the lithovit liquid fertiliser gave him the highest yield ever in the 17 years that he had been farming cocoa.

Mr Torbi said in one instance, the lithovit liquid fertiliser increased his cocoa yield from 2,875 kilogrammes in the 2013/14 cocoa season to 8,125 kilogrammes in the 2015/16 cocoa season.

He further described the product as the ‘messiah of cocoa farming’ that should be recommended to farmers to help boost yields and incomes for farmers.
The witness made the revelations under cross-examination of counsel for Alhaji Agongo, Nutifafa Nutsukpui.

He was the second defence witness in the trial in which Dr Opuni, and Alhaji Agongo have been accused of causing financial loss of GH¢271.3 million to the state.

He testified that he harvested the highest cocoa beans from three of his farms after applying the Lithovit liquid fertilizer on his crops.
Mr Torbi said after applying the fertiliser during the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons, the Lithovit liquid fertiliser, was the most important factor which gave him more yields compared to any other period in his cocoa farming experience.

According to the witness, who described the Lithovit liquid fertilizer as the farmer’s messiah, although farming practices may also impact yield, he had more yields only after introducing the Lithovit fertilizer on his farm.

Qualities

Explaining the unique impact of the Lithovit fertilizer on his farm, Torbi said the fertilizer brought out three different qualities that none of the other fertilizers he had applied in the past did.

The qualities of the Lithovit fertilizer, he said was that it widened the leaves, and made the leaves pure green.

“The third thing is that it makes the flowers thy come up on the tree very strong and that when you are using the mist blower to spray it, it does not make the flowers fall like heheh the other fertilizers are used.

“That makes the Lithovit liquid fertilizer different from other fertilizers and makes cocoa grow very well”, he told the court presided over by Justice Clemence Honyenuga, a Justice of the Supreme Court sitting with additional responsibilities as a High Court judge.

No challenge

Counsel for Agongo further asked the witness whether he encountered any challenge in the two seasons he used the Lithovit liquid fertilizer.

In his response, the defence witness said, “My Lord when I used it, it made me happy and I did not get any negative effects about it”.

He added that as a Chairman of the Cocoa cooperative in Assin Fosu in the Central region, no farmer complained to him about the Lithovit liquid fertilizer adding: “Rather, the happiness I had was the same happiness they also had and they said that it is now that they have believe that if they say cocoa farming business, Lithovit liquid fertilizer has made them realize that”.

The witness further refuted claims that farmers drunk the Lithovit liquid fertilizer on their farms because it was useless.

“If someone tells you that you can drink Lithovit liquid fertilizer when you are thirsty, then that person is not a farmer and no farmer will say such a thing,” he told the court.

Value for money

On value for money, Torbi said he had more money from the high yields occasioned by the application of the Lithovit liquid fertilizer

Asked what his reaction would be if anyone suggested that when COCOBOD bought the Lithovit liquid fertilizer for farmers to use, it received no value for the amount farmers had invested in the purchase of the fertilizer, the witness said, “farmers will never forgive that person because Lithovit liquid fertilizer is a farmer’s messiah and I also do not believe that any staff from COCOBOD will come out and say such thing”.

Background

Dr Opuni was the CEO of the COCOBOD between November 2013 and January 2017, while Agongo is the CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, an agrochemicals company.

The two were dragged to court by the Attorney-General (A-G) in March 2017 on 27 charges for allegedly engaging in illegalities in a series of fertiliser transactions, which the A-G says caused a financial loss of GH¢271.3 million to the state.

Agongo is alleged to have used fraudulent means to sell substandard fertiliser to the COCOBOD for onward distribution to cocoa farmers, while Dr Opuni is accused of facilitating the act by allowing Agongo’s products not to be tested and certified as required by law.

The accused persons, have however pleaded not guilty to the charges.