POLITICISATION OF MASS SPRAYING EXERCISE WORRIES FARMERS (PAGE 20)

COCOA farmers in the Eastern Region have expressed frustration and anger over the politicisation of the mass cocoa spraying exercise by some spraying gangs in the cocoa growing areas in the region.
They accused the gangs of not only being selective in executing the national exercise on the grounds of political affiliation but also demanded money from them before spraying their farms.
The farmers further accused the spraying gangs of pilfering premix fuel and insecticides, and stealing new spraying machines meant for the exercise.
They claimed that the negative attitudes on the part of the gangs could sabotage government’s efforts at boosting the country’s capacity to produce one million metric tonnes of the commodity by 2011.
Besides, the country also stands a great risk of losing the gains it had attained over the past eight years under the previous government, the farmers added.
The Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said his office had received many complaints from farmers over the negative attitudes of the various spraying gangs in the region since he assumed office.
He said this when he met with the Municipal and District Chief Executives, cocoa officers, officials of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Produce Buying Company (PBC) as well as coordinators of mass spraying exercise at Koforidua recently.
The regional minister said most of the cocoa farmers’ groups, who made the complaints, had on many occasions petitioned him to intervene and stop the politicisation of the exercise, since the country’s economy and the livelihood of the people depended on the cocoa industry.
According to him, the farmers had indicated that ever since the exercise began under the previous government, their living standards had improved significantly while cocoa farming had become more attractive to the youth.
He, therefore, called on all stakeholders to address the problem since the cocoa industry had over the years remained the backbone of the country’s economy.
“As a national exercise aimed at boosting the economy, we must refrain from playing politics with the mass spraying exercise to enable Ghana to retain its lost glory as the best cocoa producing country in the world”, Mr Ampofo stressed.
He particularly called on MDCEs and Municipal and District Officers of COCOBOD in cocoa growing areas as well as officials of the PBC to help address the problem.