Vice-President Bawumia
Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has said that the newly launched Cocoa Management System (CMS) will be a game changer for the cocoa industry, enhancing transparency and helping to bring total transformation in the sector.
This is because it will pave the way for a comprehensive digital database for cocoa farmers for effective and efficient management of the cocoa industry.
“The launch of this system marks the beginning of a new dawn in the cocoa industry and this is not surprising. It re-affirms the New Patriotic Party’s commitment to our digital journey towards creating the needed ICT infrastructure comparable to any in the world,” he said.
Delivering the keynote address to launch the system, Dr Bawumia said digitisation is revolutionalising the global economy, saying it is therefore imperative to leverage on information technology to enhance productivity and promote accountability and transparency.
He noted that many individuals cannot make out the link between digitisation and economy, stating that running the economy manually is like a blackboard as a lot of things are concealed.
The Vice-President therefore noted that the specific goal of the government is to quickly transform the society by leveraging technological innovations as a means to develop a civic database of all Ghanaians.
“It is impossible to govern a modern society when we don’t know who its citizens are,” he said.
Human resource
It is in this direction that Dr Bawumia has entreated the management of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to build in-house capacity to manage the CMS to ensure its sustainability.
He called for collaboration between all stakeholders in the cocoa industry for effective implementation of the programme, urging the media to undertake sensitisation drive to educate cocoa farmers and all players in the cocoa value chain for successful implementation.
He is confident that the CMS will pave the way for the smooth implementation of the soon-to-be launched Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme.
He lauded the management of COCOBOD for implementing various innovative initiatives over the past three and half years, saying the CMS is in tandem with the government’s digitisation agenda to formalise the economy.
Changing the narrative
COCOBOD Chief Executive Joseph Boahen Aidoo said over the past three and half years, his outfit has been implementing initiatives to address the myriad of challenges in the cocoa industry.
He mentioned some of the initiatives as early spraying, hand pollination, supply of slashers, pruning and irrigation of some cocoa farms to ensure all-year round water.
He is of the conviction that the CMS, if fully implemented, will create a central database for cocoa farmers, create inter and intra connectivity generation of cocoa industry players and transform the industry for the better.
A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, George Oduro, said the government has adopted mechanisation programmes to accelerate economic growth and make cocoa farming attractive to the Ghanaian youth.
He expressed satisfaction that the CMS would help eliminate fraud, theft and myriad of challenges facing the cocoa industry.
The president of Cocoa, Coffee and Cashew Farmers Association (COCOSHE), Alhaji Alhassan Bukari, thanked the government for introducing major innovative initiatives to better the lot of cocoa farmers. He said the measures have reduced the drudgery of farming and made it attractive for the Ghanaian youth.
The CMS is an online portal that will capture the demographics of cocoa farmers, farm sizes, input supplies and payment transactions.
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