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The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is to provide free fertiliser and other inputs to cocoa farmers to be used in the 2014/2015 cocoa season. The board has already secured US$200 million to fund the purchase and distribution of the fertiliser and inputs. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, Dr Stephen K. Opuni, made this known at the launch of the cocoa sustainability programme in Accra. He said the first consignment of the fertiliser had arrived and preparations were being made to distribute it. The free distribution of fertiliser will replace the fertiliser subsidy initiative under which the product was given to cocoa farmers at a subsidised price. While dismissing recent assertions that the fertiliser subsidy programme was to be stopped, Dr Opuni said the government, through the board, had even decided to give the fertiliser free of charge to farmers as a way of helping them to increase their production. The programme, CocoaAction, is an initiative of global chocolate and cocoa companies aimed at raising output and improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers in the country and neighbouring Cote d�Ivoire. The programme is expected to benefit some 100,000 farmers in Ghana within the next six years. It is to be coordinated by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), a global body working to ensure the sustainability of the cocoa industry. Consequently, the board of the WCF signed a joint agreement with COCOBOD, which regulates the cocoa industry, towards the implementation of the programme. The President of the WCF, Mr Bill Guyton, said CocoaAction was aimed at addressing issues with productivity, livelihood of farmers and sustainability of the industry.