Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has noted that the cocoa bean forward sales is imperative in fostering sectoral growth and sustainability.

His remarks come in response to calls from several Civil Society Organizations for COCOBOD to reconsider its forward sales cocoa marketing system, especially in light of escalating market prices.

Speaking to Joy Business following visits to farms in the Western and Central regions, Mr. Boahen Aidoo underscored that employing forward sales is a deliberate strategy designed to mitigate price risks and manage stock effectively.

“I am not ruling out spot for sales but it is always better to do forward sales. The buyer himself want forward sales just as the sellers. At all times, forward sales have been better than spot”.Mr. Boahen Aidoo explained that “The situation only changed for last year due to some announcement from the World Meteorological Centre on the El Nino which caused the market to panic a bit which resulted in people raising the price of cocoa.“Now, El Nino has retreated and the prices of cocoa have started coming down” he added.

Mr. Boahen Aidoo advised cocoa farmers across the seven regions to adopt hand pollination practices.

He noted that some farmers have experienced notable productivity gains, resulting in increased incomes since the introduction of hand pollination interventions in 2017.

Additionally, he endorsed the use of motorized slashers and pruners to enhance cocoa tree exposure to sunlight and air, which aids in increasing fruit production.

“Now that prices are good on the international market, what is needed is more yields to make farmers benefit. That’s why we’ve deliberately come up with the hand pollination programme. So, all cocoa farmers should embrace it,”

“Ordinarily, if you allow even pruned farms to fruit on their own, for the natural insects to do the pollination, you may end up getting about five to eight bags per hectare, but some farmers were producing between 20 bags and 30 bags per hectare. That’s where we want all our farmers to get to” he added.

The Ghana Cocoa Board is also asking farmers to stop the use of cocktail chemicals which is the practice of mixing insecticides and fungicides to spray farms, but rather use poultry manure to improve soil nutrients to support higher yields of produce.

“Now that prices are good on the international market, what is needed is more yields to make farmers benefit. That’s why we’ve deliberately come up with the hand pollination programme. So, all cocoa farmers should embrace it,”

“Ordinarily, if you allow even pruned farms to fruit on their own, for the natural insects to do the pollination, you may end up getting about five to eight bags per hectare, but some farmers were producing between 20 bags and 30 bags per hectare. That’s where we want all our farmers to get to” he added.

The Ghana Cocoa Board is urging farmers to cease using cocktail chemicals—mixtures of insecticides and fungicides for spraying farms—and to instead utilize poultry manure to enhance soil nutrients for increased crop yields.