The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has revealed that the organization has reimbursed $250 million obtained from the African Development Bank earmarked for irrigation initiatives in cocoa farms.
Mr Aidoo explained that the Ghana Irrigation Authority, serving as consultants for the project’s execution, advised against its feasibility due to the contamination of rivers by illegal mining activities, posing a threat to cocoa trees.
“When Cocoa Board went to the African Development Bank to secure some US$600 million, then we had to return $250 million. Part of that money was intended for irrigation.
“We commissioned the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority to do a pre-appraisal for our assessment, and the report we brought was that almost all the rivers were contaminated.”
He stressed that without addressing illegal mining activities, the cocoa industry remains at risk.
Mr Aidoo highlighted that most rivers in cocoa-growing regions are polluted, rendering the water unfit for cocoa cultivation.
This predicament, he noted, has compelled farmers to incur additional expenses by transporting water from their homes to their farms.
“Previously, the farmer gets to the nearest stream around the farm, and then he fetches the water to do the mass spraying and all that. But now, you cannot, because the leaves have process, which we call the stomata.
“And once you spray this muddy water onto it, the mud is going to block, this stomata and within a short time, you find all the leaves coming down. The trees will die. You cannot also use it for irrigation because it means that you have to be changing your filters almost every day,” he said.