The New Patriotic Member of Parliament for Offinso South, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, has called on Parliament to enact a law that will make the treatment of farms affected by cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) compulsory.

He said the passage of such a law would ensure that cocoa trees that had been plagued by the disease would be cut down and replaced with more tolerant varieties without resistance from the farmers.

“From 2014 to 2017, about 300 million cocoa trees have been affected by the disease and the country has halted its control programme because of the resistance from farmers,” he stated.

Compensation

Presenting a statement on the cocoa swollen shoot virus disease: A potential threat to the cocoa industry in Ghana, in Parliament last Thursday, Dr Opoku said: “We must look for more funding to cover CSSVD affected areas outside the AfDB programme and there must be massive media publicity and mass education on the benefits of the CSSVD control programme to get all affected farmers on board. The necessary measures should be put in place to address farmers’ concerns and minimise their opposition to treatment, and compensation to affected farmers must be further improved to make it more reassuring for affected farmers to cooperate.”

Spread

Highlighting the challenges that the cocoa industry has faced over the years, Dr Opoku noted that the disease started in the Eastern Region with only few farms and trees affected but when the first reconnaissance survey was done, it emerged that over 59 million trees had been affected.

“The disease started spreading to other regions until it affected all regions in the country,” he stated.
Currently, he said out of the 1.9 million hectares used for the cultivation of cocoa, 357,000 hectares had been infected, with the viral disease spreading to almost every part of Ghana.

Interventions

Highlighting some of the interventions the government had initiated to increase cocoa productivity, he said the COCOBOD had secured a $600m loan facility out of which a substantial amount had been committed for the compensation of affected farmers and owners of land on which the crop was grown.

He mentioned other interventions as recruiting more extension officers who were responsible for advising the farmers on how to manage the farms.