The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has denied allegations that it failed to provide its hired mass sprayers with the required medical attention due to the agrochemicals’ toxicity.
This follows the Ghana National Association of Cocoa Farmers’ worries about the health issues that some of its members are facing. The association claims that some of its members are experiencing blindness and impotence as a result of using agrochemicals for extended periods of time.
However, Fiifi Boafo, the chief of COCOBOD’s public relations division, stated in a Citi News interview that the board regularly performs medical examinations for contracted farmers who spray cocoa.
He refuted the claims, claiming that none of the hired sprayers had displayed these symptoms at the Cocoa Clinic.
“We find it a bit surprising to hear these complaints because these are not complaints that we are aware of.”
“Let me put on record that for the spraying of cocoa farms, COCOBOD hires over 57,000 people every year who help the farmers with the
spraying of their farms across the country. These persons, at the end of every session, apart from the fact that COCOBOD Research Institute goes round the country and takes samples and does an evaluation of the spraying that is done for the farmers, we also take some of them to the Cocoa Clinic for examination. So allegations that some people are suffering impotency and blindness are not things that the Cocoa Clinic has identified.”
