Government to destroy millions of cocoa trees nationwide; compensation arranged

Ghana is to cut down millions of cocoa trees from farms across the country as part of measures to boost cocoa production.

The exercise, which begins from the Western and Eastern regions this month, will see the Ghana Cocoa Board cut down all over aged and cocoa trees affected by black pod diseases.

A senior manager of COCOBOD, Samuel Amponsah who revealed this at a forum in Goaso for cocoa farmers in the Western and Brong Ahafo regions, said the exercise will be rolled out in October this year to cover the other eight regions.

Cocoa trees to be cut down will be replaced with hybrid seedlings, he said, adding there is also a compensation package for farmers to be affected by this exercise which is being carried by the government through Cocobod.

“Unproductive cocoa trees will be cut down and replaced with hybrid cocoa seedlings,” Mr. Amponsah told the farmers, adding “about 68 per cent of cocoa trees in Ghana are diseased”.

He said Cocobod has been engaging farmers on the exercise, noting field officers are currently on the ground sensitizing farmers to understand the reasons behind the cutting down of their cocoa trees.

According to him, there will be an initial compensation of GHC 552 for every hectare of cocoa trees to be cut down and subsequently replanting compensation of GHC1,029 per hectare, adding it could increase.

The Paramount Chief of Goaso, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I, urged the farmers to accept the exercise to improve their yield