He said it was a sad irony that in spite of the huge contributions from cocoa to the country's aggregate revenue generation for economic development, roads connecting cocoa communities to the commercial and urban centers, were deplorable and almost not motorable.

Speaking at a district farmers' rally held at Mile 9, a predominantly farming community in the Amansie Central District of Ashanti, he cited the poor road condition of the feeder road linking the Mile 9 cocoa community to the Obuasi Township and called for its urgent fixing.

The District Chief Farmer summed up the frustrations and struggles cocoa farmers across the country experienced to get their harvested cocoa beans to be transported from their farms and communities to the urban centers for export.

''Most of our harvested cocoa beans get stuck on our farms and at the buying depots and we go through a lot of hassle transporting them to the depots, especially in the rainy season when the roads are muddy and not motorable", he added.

Organized by the Obuasi District Office of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) of COCOBOD, the event brought together about 120 cocoa farmers from five Districts making up the COCOBOD administrative district.

They are Amansie Central, Obuasi East, Obuasi Municipal and Adansi North/South Districts.

The occasion was to also facilitate CHED's farmer education on good agronomic practices such as pruning, fertilizer application, weeding, pollination, among others in order to enhance the productivity and economic empowerment of the farmers for optimum yield and returns.

Nana Ankapong commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the introduction of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy but said fixing the cocoa roads was also a top priority he must consider since a huge chunk of the country's revenue came from that area.

The District Chief Farmer has 9.2 and 3.6 hectares of Cocoa and Oil Palm farms respectively in Jacobu, the District Capital of Amansie Central.

Mr Emmanuel Grayham, the Obuasi District Officer of CHED, pledged to relay the concerns of the farmers to the necessary authorities for necessary steps of redress.

He urged the farmers not to give up in their contribution to the development of the nation in spite of the numerous challenges confronting their businesses.