Nana Barima Bediako, popularly known as Hon. Gyasi Newlove, the Abusuapanin of Sefwi Pataboso, has urged the government to engage unemployed graduate students in a hand pollination program aimed at increasing cocoa yields in the country. He advocates for bold policies under the 24-hour economy initiative to attract more young people into cocoa processing.

According to him, the youth will not only participate in hand pollination but also train cocoa farmers in this technique to significantly boost yields from approximately 12 pods per tree to over 100 pods per tree.

The traditional ruler emphasized that hand pollination has become necessary due to the decline in natural pollinators, such as insects, resulting from the widespread use of chemicals on farms to control diseases affecting cocoa trees and pods.

He questioned the logic of graduates being unemployed and suggested that they could be paid monthly by the government to pollinate and train farmers.

Hon. Gyasi Newlove, a veteran farmer, cited studies showing that farmers in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Ecuador achieve yields of up to two tonnes per hectare, whereas Ghanaian farmers produce as low as 0.45 tonnes per hectare, and proposed hand pollination as a solution.

Hand pollination involves transferring pollen from one flower to the stigma of another, facilitating cross-pollination and potentially increasing cocoa yields.

Story by:Hamza Mohammed, Sefwi Bibiani