Accra, Sept. 5, GNA-Mr Boahen Aidoo, the Chief Executive, COCOBOD, has urged cocoa managers to be innovative in teaching cocoa farmers good agricultural practices to promote quality cocoa yield.
He said those practices would help address cocoa swollen shoot disease, which had affected a lot of farms in the Western North.
Mr Aidoo said this in a statement at the end of a five-day Managers’ Conference at Anagkazo campus in Akuapem Mampong.
The conference, organised by Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) Ghana Limited, a supplier of cocoa ingredients, was on the theme: « To be the Change for Good Food and a Healthy Future. »
It brought together over 400 managers from across the company’s operational areas as well as industry players to discuss trends, challenges, and developments in the cocoa sector and how OFI can maximize its operations to increase value for its stakeholders.
Mr Aidoo said the benefits of cocoa to the country’s health were many and that it behoved on all stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the crop.
He said the current focus of COCOBOD was to pursue processing and to develop artisanal processing of chocolate, because the processing industry in the world generated more revenue in cocoa.
The Chief Executive encouraged the leadership OFI to expand its processing facility; Olam Cocoa Processing at Kaase or consider building a new factory in Accra and stated government’s continued support to the sector through the rehabilitation of cocoa farms, the distribution of subsidised fertilizers to farmers, and the cocoa hand-pollination exercise.
Mr Eric Asare Botwe, the Country Head of OFI commended the team for the hard work in the previous season even in the face of challenges.
He assured the employees of continued support to bolster their efforts in ensuring that OFI maintained its position as the leading Licensed Buying Company in Ghana’s cocoa sector in the 2022/23 season.
The conference ended with an Excellence Awards ceremony, which recognised outstanding employees.
