Suhum (E/R) Oct. 01, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills, on Thursday reiterated the commitment of government to improve the cocoa sector as a means of achieving a better Ghana.

He said the government would support Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), to undertake projects like providing solar street lighting, bituminous surfacing of selected roads and solar-powered bore holes for some cocoa growing communities

President Mills said this in a speech read on his behalf at this year's Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) Day celebration at Suhum under the theme; "Consume More Cocoa for a Better Health and a Better Ghana". He said farm productivity of less than 500 kilos per hectare was inadequate if the country was to achieve the target of one million tones and beyond by 2012.

"This calls for a review of our technical interventions, particularly the Hi-Tech and Mass Spraying programmes," he said. President Mills said it would be necessary to identify the major problems facing the programme and make a conscious effort to address them.

"It is my belief that an effective and efficient HI-Tech and Mass Spraying programme would move the farm productivity to an appreciable level."

The President said government was voting money for the rehabilitation of cocoa farms adding that it would also bring into fruition the Cocoa Farmers Insurance Scheme.

He expressed concern about smuggling of cocoa and related products to neighbouring countries and urged all stakeholders to support government in its efforts to address the menace. President Mills said cocoa smuggling did not only cost the nation huge sums of money but also posed a major threat to the country's desire to attain its targeted output.

He said a major threat to the country's ability to sustain production levels was the ageing farmer population in cocoa production and called for measures that would attract the youth to join the sector.

He gave the assurance that government would always strive to put in place the best of measures to improve the livelihood and welfare of cocoa farmers and motivate them to produce more cocoa to earn higher incomes.

Mr Tony Fofie, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, said the board recognized that the expected increase in production levels would require some changes in the industry.

He said: "We must review our production and post-harvest technologies to ensure higher efficiency, change marketing strategies to increase the sale of domestically processed cocoa and modernized warehousing and port handling operations to cope with increased volumes of cocoa that will be passing through the ports."

Mr Fofie said COCOBOD in partnership with COPAL was actively encouraging local consumption of cocoa not just for commercial benefits but for the health benefits as well.

He appealed to local cocoa processing companies and other allied institutions to rationalize their operations with a view to cutting their cost of operations to make cocoa products affordable to Ghanaians. Mr Sona Ebai, Secretary General of COPAL, said scientific findings revealed that there were still many more "wonders about cocoa" yet to be discovered.

"As we enjoy a bullish cocoa market, let us continue to devote our technological imagination to downstream Research and Development in order to lengthen our list of new products that are healthy and affordable to the people," he said.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance, in an address read for him, appealed to Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) to use the Seed Fund that COCOBOD would advance to them to pay farmers promptly when the 2009/2010 cocoa season was opened. He urged COCOBOD to also endeavor to pay LBCs promptly when they delivered cocoa to the take over centres. 01 Oct. 09