Ghana must provide more specialised support and training for its cocoa farmers if it is to sustain recent rises in crop yields, the head of a state-funded research body said.
World No 2 producer Ghana has seen its cocoa output rise to record levels, jumping from 340,000 tonnes in 2001/02 to a bumper harvest of 740,000 tonnes in 2003/04.
The rise is attributable to industry regulator Cocobod's success in combating pests and disease and also to better cultivation practices like weeding, pruning and regular spraying, said Dr Michael Roy Appiah, executive director of Cocobod's research arm, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG).
"Farms that were yielding 280 to 350 kg per hectare maybe 10 years ago are now yielding 800 to 900 kg per hectare for farmers that adopt research technologies from this institute," Appiah told Reuters on Monday at his office in Tafo, in eastern Ghana.
"The only way we can sustain it (the yield) is by the adoption of research technologies.
There is an urgent need to bring back extension services ... If you want to sustain it, extension services should come back," he said.
Appiah added that during the last ten years, the level of government-provided specialised support and training for cocoa farmers, or extension services, had declined.
Such services, previously provided by Cocobod, are now largely carried out by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which has one-stop extension services for farmers but does not specialise in cocoa. CRIG stepped in to fill the gap.
"Controlling pests and diseases alone without working on agronomic practices would not increase the yield," Appiah said.
CRIG is developing biological methods to fight pests, such as capsid and diseases like black pod.
"What we envisage is that with time, we would be able to use (biological methods) completely ... or use it in conjunction with chemical means as an integrated pest management programme," Appiah said.
Use of purely biological controls should enable Ghana to increase its cocoa revenues by targeting the niche organic cocoa market, but the complicated and lengthy certification process means this is still some years away, he said.
Cocoa farmers say Ghana's 2005/06 cocoa crop will be bigger than the previous season thanks to favourable rains and lack of disease, but there have been cases of poorer quality "purple" beans being offered.
Industry regulator Cocobod has said it expects production of at least 650,000 tonnes in 2005/06, up from an estimated 570,000 tonnes in 2004/05. The main cocoa harvest in Ghana opened on October 7.
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