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The Municipal Chief Executive for Prestea Huni-Valley, Hon. Mozart K. Owuh has appealed to the Ghana Cocoa Board to have a cocoa district for Prestea Huni-Valley municipality.

The MCE, Hon. Owuh made the appeal on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at Prestea, when he was delivering a speech at the second "Regional Cocoa Yield Improvement Education Programme” organised by Ghana Cocoa Board in the Western Region with over 600 farmers in attendance.

Hon. Mozart expressed resentments about situations where cocoa farmers in Prestea Huni-Valley would have travel to Tarkwa Office of Cocoa Board in frustration to obtain fertilizers among others from the Cocoa Board.

Noting that Prestea Huni-Valley is the second most populated municipality in the Region, he said “we grow lots of cocoa here but, you hear, cocoa roads in the cities, meanwhile, Dwurigum, Enyinam, Botebone, Wassa Nkran, Banaho, No.1, and others, our roads are unmotorable. Ghana Cocoa Board should revise the Cocoa Roads Project to affect the real cocoa farmer not the cities…we are appealing to Cocoa Board to get Prestea Huni-Valley Cocoa District”.

Hon. Mozart K. Owuh stated further that “some farmers are now cutting their cocoa to plant rubber or oil palm but I believe there should not be a competition between the two crops. More education will help farmers understand that some soils support rubber, others support rubber or oil palm. So there should not be a competition at all”.

“1D1F, Oil Palm Factory will be established at Prestea”, thus all plantation crops are significant, he added.

The MCE issued stern warning to cocoa farmers to desist from selling their farms to illegal miners (galamseyers) to mine gold; disclosing that he has directed a  taskforce to arrest offenders.

Mr. Francis Antwi-Adjei, the Western South Regional Manager in charge of Cocoa Health and Extensive Division of Ghana Cocoa Board, also noted that “12.3 million seedlings have been nursed and given freely to farmers to ensure Cocoa Production takes shape again. The Mass spraying, pruning programmes are all in place, and now, we are going to inaugurate Cocoa Cooperatives Societies for Tarkwa District. “These are indications of our commitment to ensure improved yield”. 

The President of the newly inaugurated Tarkwa District Cooperative Societies, Nana Kwamena Danso, who is also the Divisional Chief of Enyinam advised farmers in the municipality to join a Cooperative Union to help address their needs.