<<Print>>

An intervention to increase cocoa production in the country, as well as improve its quality, has been launched in Accra. Dubbed: �The Nestle Cocoa Plan,� it is an intervention which is also aimed at improving the livelihood of cocoa farmers. Launched by Nestle Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), the plan forms part of Nestle�s global effort at supporting the lives of cocoa farmers, as well as increasing the quality of their crops. The Managing Director of Nestle Ghana, Mr Moataz El Hout, who together with the Deputy Chief Executive of Cocobod, Dr Francis Oppong, launched the plan, said the initiative hinged on three main pillars. Pillars of cocoa plan Mr Hout said the Cocoa Plan initiative was aimed at helping farmers to run profitable farms, through farmer training, distribution of higher yielding cocoa plants and rewards for good quality cocoa. It is also aimed at improving social conditions in the farming communities, through the elimination of child labour and by focusing on women, children and their specific needs for education, health and water. The last pillar, he said, was to facilitate a sustainable sourcing of good quality cocoa, by ensuring long-term supply of good quality cocoa, increasing transparency in the supply chain and respecting the environment. Nestle Ghana, Mr Hout said, had been working closely with the communities it sourced cocoa from since 2009, and had trained over 9,000 farmers, built three schools and constructed eight boreholes benefitting 14,000 people in communities in the Eastern and Ashanti regions. The company, he said, had also built four village resource centres, as well as provided training facilities for local students and video training on best farming methods for cocoa farmers. Mr Hout said the company was committed to creating shared value with its sources of supply, explaining that it formed part of the company�s social responsibility strategy. The Deputy Chief Executive of Cocobod, Dr Oppong, said cocoa production in the country was beset by numerous challenges among which he said was the relatively low productivity of cocoa farms. �One major cause of this low productivity is the high stock of overaged trees, high population of aged farmers and diseased infected trees,� he explained. To this end, Dr Oppong said Cocobod had rolled out programmes aimed at increasing the productivity of cocoa farmers, from an average yield of 450kg per hectare to 1,000kg per hectare. �Our strategy is to make cocoa farming lucrative as a means to attract and sustain the interest of the youth in cocoa farming.