COVID-19 may just be the push needed for\u00a0 the Cocoa Industry to advance further, as the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA) has recorded a\u00a0 two percent (2%) increase in production in one parish, despite the implications of the\u00a0 Coronavirus Pandemic and the lockdown imposed as a result of a state of emergency that was\u00a0 experienced here a few months ago.<\/p>\n
The increase is one of the accomplishments of the association in 2020. Chairman of the GCA,\u00a0 Christopher Williams, revealed the increase in production in St. David at the GCA\u2019s Annual\u00a0 General Meeting, on September 17, 2020, at the Deluxe Cinema, Grenville, St. Andrew.<\/p>\n
This increase has prompted the Association to recommence the buying of wet cocoa, and the\u00a0 processing of cocoa beans, having received the permission of the Grenada Co-operative\u00a0 Nutmeg Association (GCNA), to utilize its Marli Facility for that particular purpose.<\/p>\n
He said the Association is pleased to move in that direction, as they aim to meet the international standard status of its buyers, as well as maintain the fine flavour of\u00a0 cocoa beans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is because of this we are now able to say to our farmers, that our aim is to offer to them no\u00a0 less than eighty cents ($0.80) out of each dollar ($1.00) we receive for the beans. This\u00a0 commitment stands and we are not going to lower that,\u201d he disclosed.<\/p>\n
This is the first time that the Association ends the cocoa year without much stock on hand, he\u00a0 added. \u201cWe look forward to being able to continue to manage our overdraft so it would not be\u00a0 a burden for our farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Michael Stephen, congratulated the association on the efforts to increase production in St. David.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ministry applauds the efforts of the farmers in St. David, which at the same time\u00a0 challenges farmers in other parishes to replicate this as part of the national drive to increase\u00a0 production. This shows that COVID-19 may just be the impetus needed for the association to\u00a0 realise that they need to continue with value addition, which would appeal to diverse markets\u00a0 and shipping logistics that are less cumbersome than shipping of cocoa beans in bags,\u201c he\u00a0 stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile an increase in production is excellent news for the industry, it would definitely be more\u00a0 refreshing if such increase coincides with the increase of prices on the international market,\u00a0 thus realising greater benefits for the hard-working farmers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
St. David is now the third largest producer of Cocoa on the island.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands challenges the Board of Directors of the Grenada Cocoa\u00a0 Association to be more strategic in the negotiations to avert further deductions in pricing.<\/p>\n
The GCA will continue working with the Ministry of Agriculture to increase cocoa production\u00a0 in parishes, through the OECS\u00a0Regional Agricultural Competitiveness Project (AGRICOM). The\u00a0\u00a0Association is currently working on solar energy for the Diamond Chocolate Factory and the\u00a0\u00a0opening of the restaurant facility; a boost for the Agri-Tourism Sector, crop insurance for\u00a0\u00a0farmers and modernisation of the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA) Act.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ministry Of Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" COVID-19 may just be the push needed for\u00a0 the Cocoa Industry to advance further, as the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA) has recorded a\u00a0 two percent (2%) increase in production in one parish, despite the implications […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-argriculture","8":"category-local-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1",1024,683,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg",1024,683,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg",1024,683,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1",1024,683,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1",1024,683,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C438&ssl=1",1024,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=678%2C381&ssl=1",678,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1",678,509,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Photo-3-1-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Agriculture<\/a> Local News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"COVID-19 may just be the push needed for\u00a0 the Cocoa Industry to advance further, as the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA) has recorded a\u00a0 two percent (2%) increase in production in one parish, despite the implications [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6848,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions\/6848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}