Armajaro Ghana Limited, a Licensed Cocoa Buying Company, has presented farming implements to 18,000 cocoa farmers in their operational districts to assist them boost the production of cocoa in the country. The presentation which was made at the Akim-Oda sports stadium included Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), spraying machines and tree seedlings. Mr. Vince McAleer, the Development and Sustainability Manager of Armajaro in charge of West Africa explained that personal protective equipment such as overalls, respirators, goggles, hand gloves and wellington boots will help farmers to spray their farms against cocoa diseases and pest which account for low productivity whereas tree seedlings are planted on cocoa farms to help reverse the trend of deforestation. The Head of Cocoa Business of Armajaro Ghana Limited, Mr. Goran Colaric, in his speech, stated that the presentation was a demonstration of their commitment towards the sustainable production of cocoa in Ghana. Mr. Goran subsequently disclosed that, Armajaro’s continuous support to cocoa communities is informed by their desire to ensure that cocoa production in such communities meets economic, social and environmental standards such as farm labour and sound environmental protection practices. In a speech read on behalf of the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Mr. Anthony Fofie, the Director of Research, Mr. Ebenezer Tei Quartey, said the presentation under Armajaro’s sustainability programme, is a big boost to cocoa farmers and cocoa production. ‘This complements the efforts of COCOBOD’s diseases and pest control programme (CODAPEC) which aims at reducing the incidence of pest and diseases that affect the cocoa pod’ he stated. He emphasized that, COCOBOD’s initiative on sustainability is to encourage farmers to take cocoa farming as a profitable business and obtain good revenue to better their livelihood. Armajaro Ghana Limited is working on these initiatives with Sourcetrust Ghana. Sourcetrust is a non-profit organization established by Armajaro, which aims at improving farmers’ yield through the delivery of projects to develop farmers business, knowledge and skills. Some farmers were awarded on the effort towards high yield of cocoa production in the country. Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana