Vice President Dr Mohamudu Bawumia says the recent spate of armed robbery attacks on cocoa purchasing clerks and calls for greater transparency and visibility in the cocoa supply chain, influenced the Cocoa Management System (CMS) Policy that Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has introduced.
The initiative, which he described as laudable, is purposed to digitise the cocoa industry by capturing the biometric information of the farmer, the land holding the farms and information on conditions of the farms, including the soil properties and age of trees.
It will also take into consideration the weather, land tenure system and address the question of inter and intra generational cocoa production to assist in the effective management, planning and implementation of policies and programmes for the cocoa sector.
The CMS, which is expected to build a database of all cocoa farmers in the entire country, as well as all cocoa transactions, begin with a sensitisation programme for the stakeholders and will be followed by data collection in two weeks’ time.
Vice President Dr Bawumia, speaking at the launch of the CMS Friday in Accra, described the steps taken by the board and management of COCOBOD as a landmark development, which forms part of the transformational efforts by the government, since 2017.
Explaining the relevance of the CMS, he said the objective was to build on the information and communications technology (ICT) to quickly transform society.
He said vast majority of developing countries are moving towards digitalisation and leveraging technology in every aspect of human activity from the home to office, factory and farm and to public administration.
According to him, many people do not make the link between digitalisation and economy, meanwhile it is extremely difficult to manage an economy manually, because so many things are hidden.
He noted that digitalisation improves transparency to formalise economy and also gives economic management a lots of effects and a lot of efficiency, hence “they are one and the same thing in the face of modern economy.”
As a result, Dr Bawumia added that introduction of the Digital Address System, the National Identification (ID) card, as well as the introduction of the Mobile Money Interoperability are to transform the economy digitally.
“So, for the first time every programme, every policy intervention plan and projection, every infrastructural development needed in cocoa growing areas will be based on verified data.
“So the Cocoa Management System is not only in line with the government’s digital transformation agenda, but will also bring enormous benefits to stakeholders in the cocoa industry, especially the farmers,” Dr Bawumia emphasised.
The Vice-president reiterated that since it is the government’s aspirations to build on the ICT development data, there was a need for a rapid adoption of digital development, which was driven by not just to change things, but also by the need to tackle local developmental challenges.
According to him, a successful introduction of the CMS would equally pave the way for the smooth implementation of the cocoa farmers’ pension scheme.
Dr Bawumia called on the leadership of COCOBOD to build an in-house capacity to manage the system to ensure ownership and sustainability and advised all farmers to cooperate with the board in the process.
The Chief Executive (CE) of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo stated that the CMS introduction was necessitated bya number of challenges persisting in the cocoa industry, which does not paint a good picture of the country.
He said the Western world have accused the country of using children on cocoa farms, as well as being tagged with the issue of deforestation, meanwhile, the cocoa sector had not got any data to correct the perception.
Mr Aidoo added that without a formalised data, the country will not be able to provide the needed support to farmers.
Therefore, the CMS will help the industry player to capture farmer information, land holding, farm size, weather and changing the entire of cocoa management in the country.
He also said the technological interventions of the government through the use of motorised pruners and slashers and the modern ways of farming had resolved some of the challenges.
George Oduro, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, on his part, hoped that the digitisation of agriculture will help address the issue of fertiliser theft, fraud and manipulation of the system.
According to him, accurate data that would be provided on CMS will help farmers reach the necessary support required.
The post COCOBOD to revolutionise cocoa sector through new CMS policy appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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