The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) is experimenting a cocoa seedling that begins yielding fruits at 18 months.
The Board, together with the management is strategizing on how to produce cocoa seedlings and improve agronomic practices that that can produce cocoa trees that will fruit early and produce a lot of cocoa from the farms.
Cocoa trees take on the average, 3-5 years to yield a crop, with hybrid varieties providing crops earlier.
The experimental crop
The experimental farm is located at Agyeikrom in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern Region.
Members of the Board of Cocobod who were at a retreat at Cocoa Research Institute (CRIG) Tafo, on Friday June 30, 2017 paid a working visit to the farm to observe the state of the experimentation.
They interacted with other farmers to know at first-hand, what concerns they are going through.
The Board was led by its Chairman, Hackman Owusu Agyemang; Chief Executive, Joseph Boahen Aidoo among others