Incentivize farmers to venture into cocoa farming, says expert

Cocoa farming still remains unattractive to the youth across the country, a cocoa field researcher Seth Adu Agyei has stated.

Speaking to Nana Yaa Mensah on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Seth Adu Agyei said government must assist the youth who expressed interest in going into cocoa farming with some capital.

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The venture is no more lucrative, so they are looking for an alternative, those who think about the future are saving their lands for rubber plantation, and even in the rubber plantation too before you can cultivate a rubber, it also takes seven years and so those who cannot endure such things are giving their lands to illegal miners (galamseyers) for some money,” he said.

Adu Agyei added “So, I will advise the government that once somebody is interested in cocoa farming, then the c has to do something by giving them something so that if the cocoa is not ready, they can rely on the monies that government has given them, otherwise people may not engage in cocoa farming.”

He is of the view that despite the reduction in the yielding period for cocoa from 7 to about 4 years, many youths are not motivated to go into cocoa farming.

Initially the plans that we were having, before you can harvest the cocoa unless seven years but at the moment the seeds or plants that we have takes about 3 to four years “… aside acquiring the land and other things “

Meanwhile   Kojo Hayford managing editor of Cocoa Post who also spoke on the programmes says government must come with an initiative that can make land acquisition for cocoa farming easy for the youth.

He however described the introduction of the living income differential and the cocoa farmer pension scheme by government as a game changer in the sector.

Source: Ghextractives