Offinso Chief Praises COCOBOD Boss

Nana Wiafe Akenten III, the Chief of Offinso in the Ashanti Region, has expressed profound appreciation to the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, for his commitment and diligent effort at improving the cocoa industry and the lives of cocoa farmers.

The Chief noted that the COCOBOD Boss and the government are doing a lot of good work through the introduction and implementation of the Productivity Enhancement Programmes.

The Chief made the remarks while addressing an entourage of senior management members from COCOBOD, led by its Chief Executive.

The COCOBOD team paid a courtesy call on the Chief at his palace before going on to interact with a gathering of farmers holding rally.

Nana Wiafe Akenten III encouraged Mr. Boahen Aidoo to continue his good work and intelligent handling of matters relating to the welfare of cocoa farmers in Ghana.

In many instances, the Chief said, people put in charge of public organisations, such as COCOBOD, choose to remain in their offices, instead of stepping out onto the field to assess the progress of work across the country.

“It is only when you step out onto the field that you can properly assess the work on the ground”, he said in appreciation of the Chief Executive’s decision to interact in person with the community of cocoa farmers at Offinso.

“Cocoa is the backbone of this country. This has been the case from the time of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah till now. We should ask ourselves, what we can do to improve cocoa farming and the cocoa trade and so today’s visit from the COCOBOD Chief Executive is very important to me.

“Offinso is an important cocoa producing community. A National Chief farmer has even emerged from this community before. It is true though that cocoa production has in the recent past years gone down and we all have to ask ourselves why that is the case and what we can do to improve production”, Nana Wiafe Akenten III noted.

He advised workers in the cocoa sector to be truthful in dealing with the farmers; give them the due respect and desist from cheating them out of earning what is due for their labour. Such behaviour, he noted undermines the cocoa sector.

“I entreat the management and staff of COCOBOD to support the good work being done by the Chief Executive. He cannot work alone. Your support, hard work and sincerity are equally essential to the success of the cocoa sector, “the Chief said.