The Dutch Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Hans Docter, on Thursday, said the government of the Netherlands has granted Ghana seven million Euros to boost its cocoa sector.
Ghana’s online newspaper, the Graphic, quoted Docter as saying this during an interview with newsmen in Accra.
He said the grant was part of Netherlands’ policy of combining development cooperation and trade.
He added that the project tagged: “ Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Project (CORIP)’’ would be implemented over a four-year period.
The Dutch envoy said the project would be implemented in partnership with Solidaridad West Africa, a Ghana-based cocoa development firm.
“The programme shows that public and private interests can go together to add value to people’s life without the government taking additional burden.
“It is aimed at developing economic, social and environmentally sustainable support for cocoa farmers in the main cocoa producing regions of Ghana,’’ he said.
He said that the grant would also take care of technical support for farmers to rehabilitate old farms and intensify existing cocoa systems.
“It would also work with the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to boost availability of improved planting materials,’’ he said.
The medium also quoted Isaac Gyamfi, the Managing Director, Solidaridad West Africa as saying that the project would improve the capacity of cocoa farmers and cocoa yield in the country. (NAN)
