Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), assisted Samuel Torbi, a cocoa farmer, produce more cocoa with the lithovit liquid fertiliser, he told the Accra High Court on Monday.

He claimed that the lithovit fertiliser supplied by COCOBOD, then managed by Dr Opuni, allowed him increase his production from 2,875 kilogrammes in the 2013/14 cocoa season to 8,125 kilogrammes in the 2015/16 cocoa season.

“I state that the lithovit liquid fertiliser is the best fertiliser that I have ever used on my cocoa farm. It is the best fertiliser ever supplied by COCOBOD. It is a liquid fertiliser, and it is very effective.”

Mr Torbi, who has 17 years of experience and owns over 33 acres of cocoa farms in the Central Region, testified as a defence witness for Dr Opuni, who is accused of causing a financial loss to the state of over GH271 million in a series of transactions with businessman Seidu Agongo, CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, the fertiliser's producers.

The farmer told the court that he only used granular fertilisers before adopting lithovit liquid fertiliser. According to him, he

He stated he used both fertilisers on his land since he was unsure of the effect of the new fertiliser. However, after some time, he discovered that lithovit liquid fertiliser was more effective.

 “I must state that the risk was worth it. I harvested and sold 8,125 kilogrammes of cocoa beans for the said 2015/2016 cocoa season. I, therefore, became convinced about the efficacy of liquid fertilisers.”

He then informed the court that his productivity dropped when COCOBOD stopped delivering lithovit liquid fertiliser to him and other farmers during the 2017/2018 cocoa season.

When Mr Tobi attempted to surrender his cocoa passbook, which includes his cocoa sales and other information from 2012 to the present, the prosecution made an objection in court.

The prosecution, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, pointed out to the court that the witness's name on the passbook was Rockson, not Samuel.

“ROCKSON” that had been corrected to “SAMUEL” “Rockson can certainly not be a mistake in the spelling of the name Samuel, not by any stretch of imagination. It is our submission that the document the witness seeks to tender as his own is not his document.

Justice Clemence Jackson Honyenuga, the presiding judge, overruled the objection and admitted the passbook into evidence after Samuel Codjoe, lead counsel for Dr Opuni, explained the circumstances that led to the correction.

The court then ended proceedings for hearing to resume on May 19. The Prosecution will cross-examine Mr Tobi in the subsequent hearing.

The Prosecution alleges that Dr Opuni and Seidu Agongo collaborated to sell Lithovit fertiliser, a substandard product.

The Prosecution speculates that Mr Agongo used fraudulent means while Dr Opuni, who served as COCOBOD CEO from November 2013 to January 2017, refused to allow lithovit liquid fertiliser be tested and certified as required by law.

The accused are on self-recognisance bail in the sum of GH¢300,000 each after not pleading innocent.

Source: The Independent Ghana