He said as part of the Cocoa Enhancement and Productivity Programme (CEPP), COCOBOD has trained Cocoa Skilled Pollinators to help farmers pollinate their farms after weeding, pruning, crop protection and fertilizer application.

Mr. Osei was addressing cocoa farmers during a field tour at Bompieso in the Huni-Valley District of the Western Region.

He was accompanied by Regional Extension Officer, Dr Elliot Anyidoho, District Cocoa Officer (DCO) of Wassa-Akropong, Mr Bismark Owiredu, DCO of Dunkwa-On-Offin, Mr Peter and Deputy Regional Extension Officer, Madam Winnifred Akua Armah, among others.

The tour afforded the Western-South Manager and his team to inspect cocoa farms, especially hand pollinated farms.

At Bompieso, COCOBOD officials first visited the-2.83- hectare first class pollinated cocoa farm of Mr. Kwame Alex.

Mr. Osei commended the untiring efforts of Mr. Alex for applying the farming practices, especially hand pollination, to increase productivity.

He used the occasion to laud the Huni-Valley District for leading in cocoa hand pollination exercise in the country.

He said the Region has trained 3,551 skilled pollinators in the Western-South Region.

Mr. Osei advised farmers to disabuse the mentality that hand pollination exercise was expensive, adding that two and a half bags of cocoa could offset seed capital pumped into the pollination exercise.

He said COCOBOD would continue to supply chemicals and forceps to enable farmers to pollinate their own farms.
The Western-South Manager indicated that COCOBOD was set to assist farmers pollinate 43,000 hectares of cocoa in the Region.

Mr. Alex, a cocoa farmer, thanked COCOBOD for the support to hand pollinate his own farm.

According to him, he has harvested three times in 2023 after adopting all the farming practices.

Leader of the Skilled Pollinators, Mr. Emmanuel Cobbinah, appealed to farmers to embrace hand pollination to boost production.

He said the team was ready to assist farmers pollinate their farms and train them to pollinate their own farms.

District Chief Farmer at Huni-Valley, Nana Thomas Boakye asked farmers to learn hand pollination to be able to pollinate their own farms.