A SPEECH DELIVERED BY HON. WILLIAM AGYAPONG QUAITTOO (CEO OF TREE CROPS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY), FOR THE HON. DR. OWUSU AFRIYIE AKOTO (MINISTER FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE)

As delivered.

Mr. Chairman 

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast

Rector of this College, Dr. Francis Baah

Dep. Chief Executives of Ghana Cocoa Board

Directors of Ghana Cocoa Board present

All other Institutional Heads present

Nananom

The media, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Before I proceed to speak on the theme for this year’s Graduation and Matriculation, kindly permit me to celebrate our beautiful Graduands, Faculty Members, the leadership of this College and the entire Ghana Cocoa Board leadership for this colossal, dazzling, and glamorous event.

Graduation Day is a distinctive day in the academic journey of any student, and I am exceptionally thrilled to be with you today standing in for one of the most efficient and competent servants of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s Government, in the person of HON. DR. OWUSU AFRIYIE AKOTO (MINISTER FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE), SPECIAL GUEST OF HONOUR for this occasion. It was his wish to be here in person with you, but for some circumstances beyond his control he could not make it, and so he has asked me to be here on his behalf and play every role expected of him accordingly.

The Hon. Minister is very thankful to the leadership of COCOBOD for the honour done him by granting him the opportunity to be a part of this historic event.

At this juncture, kindly join me to congratulate these amazing, tough and irrepressible class of Graduands, whom despite the many difficulties faced during and after COVID-19, adjusted all their schedules and did so exceptionally effectively and have made it to graduation today. It’s a phenomenal achievement of which all of you students, and all of us parents, lecturers, supporters, and friends of Bunso Cocoa College should be proud. 

To our proud Graduands, I say congratulations and well done to you for staying focused all these years to execute the very objective for which reason your parents or guardians brought you to this beautiful institution. This is a moment every parent or guardian would want to witness and savour in their quest to secure a solid foundation and a good education for the future of their wards.

And to those of you undergoing matriculation today, I say congratulations to you too. I congratulate you not because you were selected out of the many applicants who wanted and wished to be here, but I do so because you have taken a decision to become better and useful persons to yourselves, families, communities and to the whole of this nation. By going through today’s matriculation, and accordingly taking the oath of matriculation, you have officially become students of this great institution, congratulations to you once again.

Mr. Chairman, the theme (“Raising the Manpower for a Resilient Tree Crops Sector”) for this maiden graduation and matriculation ceremony could not have been chosen at a better time. As you may be aware, Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world, contributing 25% of global cocoa production. 

Recently at an event organised by Olam Ghana, the Chief Executive for COCOBOD revealed that Ghana recorded more than 1.4 million metric tonnes of cocoa beans production in the 2020/21 crop season representing about a 45% increase over 2019/2020 production and beats the earlier record of about one million metric tonnes achieved in the 2009/2010 crop season.

According to the Chief Executive, this was an indication that policies and programmes implemented by the government had proven worthwhile. I dare say that people with the calibre of training our graduands here have received, did a whopping portion of the implementation part of the job.

And so, it is a good step that Ghana Cocoa Board for that matter Bunso Cocoa College has taken the bull by the horn to train these graduands in this regard, this is a deliberate attempt to sustain the manpower requirement for cocoa, coffee and the tree crops industry at large.

Mr. Chairman, as we all know, Cocoa production, has been the backbone of this county’s economy for over 120 years, currently raking in about $ 2bilion in revenue every year. Unfortunately, the sector stands endangered by decreased land for production in the last few years due to deforestation, climate change and other human factors. It is however refreshing to know that the management of Ghana Cocoa Board, under the leadership of the Sector Minister is working around the clock to salvage this treacherous situation. An example of these planned activities to sustain the sector is the establishment of this training system.  

There are other tree crops with significant potential for growth and export revenue generation. In 2019, the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, established the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) by an Act of Parliament (TCDA Act 2019, Act 1010) to also regulate and develop in a sustainable manner, the production, processing, and marketing of six (6) tree crops, namely: Cashew, Oil palm, Rubber, Shea, Coconut and Mango. I am privileged to be the first CEO of the Authority. The management of TCDA will always welcome the opportunity to collaborate with COCOBOD and other stakeholders in order to build a competitive and sustainable tree crops industry in Ghana that will drive inclusive economic transformation. 

It is expected that these six crops will generate more than US$ 12 billion in foreign exchange revenue by 2030. The TCDA therefore would also require the kind of manpower we are witnessing here today to execute its mandate effectively and efficiently. I am, here and now, humbly requesting the College to develop curriculums for training the required manpower for Cashew and Shea since COCOBOD already has the research mandate on these crops through CRIG.

In conclusion, I would like to say that sustaining a robust tree crops sector requires the development of a robust manpower source, and for this reason, I would want to, on behalf of the Minister for Food and Agriculture (Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto) laud the management of Ghana Cocoa Board and the Bunso Cocoa College for chalking this milestone, and to my dear Graduands and Matriculants, once again I say congratulations to you. And to you Parents and Guardians herein gathered, I humbly request God to bless you more, for making the education of your wards a priority.