The 2017 National Best Farmer, Philip Kwaku Agyemang, has testified in respect of Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser in an ongoing cocoa trial in Accra.
According to the Dormaa-based farmer, he used Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on three different cocoa farms that he owned and the result was tremendous.
He told an Accra Criminal High Court, presided over by Justice Clemence Honyenuga on Thursday, that Lithovit liquid fertiliser increased his yields more than the other fertilisers that he applied on his other cocoa farms.
The subpoenaed sixth defence witness (DW6) of Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, told the court that he has 22 individual farms, with a total acreage of 147 acres, which are scattered across the Dormaa District of the Bono region.
Additionally, DW6 said he has 18 acres of plantain, 25 acres of maize, some economic trees, 9 acres of cassava, 2 acres of vegetables – pepper, tomatoes and garden eggs, 4 acres of cashew, 2 acres of orange, over 4 acres of fish ponds. He also has livestock – 35 cows, 32 sheep, 40 goats – as well as birds – 120 local fowls and 40,000 layers.
His industriousness has also won him the second runner-up best farmer in 2011, the Dormaa District best farmer in 1994, as well as earning the title ‘Baffour’ from the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Dr Nana Agyemang Badu II.
The witness added that COCOBOD officials also recognised his effort and in 2018 sponsored him as part of its team to Switzerland for the cocoa conference.
His testimony concerning the case, which has been running for the past four years, was that he used Lithovit liquid fertiliser for the very first in 2014, repeated same in 2015 and 2016.
According to him, Lithovit liquid fertiliser is very effective and that “when you look at the cocoa on the farms that I applied the Lithovit liquid fertiliser on, the cocoa trees had more yield. Also, I used to pass through other farms before I get to my farm and the farmer told me they also had lots of yield from their cocoa trees. When I enquired what fertiliser he applied, although he could not tell the exact fertiliser, he mentioned the company producing Lithovit Liquid fertiliser as Agricult.”
Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni is the former Chief Executive (CE) of COCOBOD (Ghana Cocoa Board) and he is being tried together with Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Limited for various criminal charges, including money laundering, wilfully causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GH¢2.1billion, defrauding by false pretences, contravention of the Public Procurement Act, manufacturing fertiliser without registration and corruption of public officer.
The following is part of the cross examination;
Q. Do you have any evidence to show to this court that you are a farmer?
A. Yes my Lord.
Q. What are these?
A. My Lord, they are documents that testify that I’m a farmer.
Q. What document is this?
A. My Lord, last year, COCOBOD came to inspect my farms and gave me a receipt to that effect. It bears my name, telephone number and date of the inspection.
Q. What do you want to do with this receipt?
A. I would like to tender it to the court as evidence of me being a cocoa farmer.
Court: Any objection?
State Prosecutor: My Lord, I have no objection.
A2 & A3 Counsel: No objection.
Court: Evidence admitted and marked as Exhibit 116.
Q. What are on the document that makes you think can prove your identity as a farmer?
A. My lord, it bears my name, my Ghana card number, my region, locations of my farm, my telephone number, the name of the person who took measurements on my farm is also on the receipt and there is a code number on it too.
Q. Can you have a look at this? What document is this?
A. This is a card that was given to me after they took information about my farms.
This is a card that shows I am a cocoa farmer.Q. What do you want to do with the card as a farmer?
A. My lord, I want to show it to the court as information that was taken from me to make this card after measurement of my farms.
Q. Can you describe what is on the card?
A. This card from COCOBOD has my name, my identification card number is on it, my sex is displayed on the card as a male, it has my age on it as well, the date of issuance of the card is on it and there is a number beneath the card that I believe is from COCOBOD.
Q. Can you have a look at this document? What document is this?
A. My Lord, please this is a certificate.
Q. Where from this certificate?
A. Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Q. What does it indicate?
A. My Lord, it indicates I was adjudged second runner up best farmer in 2011, Farmers’ day.
Q. On what basis did you win the second runner up?
A. In 1994, I won the award as the Dormaa District best farmer. From there I worked harder to achieve more. I increased the number of crops I planted and my poultry.
Q. Can you tell this court the crops you planted and the farm size which won you the best farmer category?
A. I planted 90 acres of cocoa, 13 acres of plantain, 5 acres of oil palm, 15 acres of maize, 2 acres of orange, 2 acres of coconut plantation, 4 acres of cashew, 1 acre of yam, 2 acres of cassava, 1 acre of cocoyam. I also planted economic trees in my 90 acre cocoa farm.
Q. You won the second runner up with these crops?
A. No please. I also had animals. I had 20,000 poultry, 15 cows, 25 sheep, 30 goats and I also had fish ponds and a honeycomb. I also had a snail and mushroom farm. I had a machine for the preparation of poultry feed.
I had four cars for my farming activities. They also asked how I have been able to do for the community. They also interviewed me concerning my work as a farmer.
Q. What do you have in your hands?
A. It’s a certificate.
Q. For what?
A. It a certificate awarded to me as a national best farmer in 2017.
Q. What do you want to do with this certificate?
A. I want the court to see this certificate and to know I am a very big farmer.
Court: Photocopy admitted and marked as exhibit 119.
Q. What crops did you plant which resulted in your being chosen as a national best farmer, and what is the size of the farms?
A. My Lord, in 2017 when the COCOBOD team visited me to see my work, I had 120 acres of cocoa and 16 other farms.
Q. Can you tell us the other crops?
A. I cultivated 18 acres of plantain, 25 acres of maize, some economic trees, 9 acres of cassava, 2 acres of vegetables – pepper, tomatoes and garden eggs. I still have 4 acres of cashew, 2 acres of orange, and I have expanded my fish ponds. I have 35 cows, 32 sheep, 40 goats and, 120 local fowls, 40,000 layers. I have machine for producing feed and mixing feed, and four cars.
Q. Kindly have a look at this document given to you. What is it?
A. It is a photograph of myself and the current President, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo. In the photograph, he is presenting a cheque to me.
Q. What was it for?
A. It was a cheque for the national best farmer award and it was from Africa Development Bank (ADB).
Q. What do you want to do with it?
A. I want to tender it as a proof that I won the national best farmer.
State Prosecutor & Counsel for A2 and A3 raised no objection.
Court: A photocopy of the document admitted and marked as Exhibit 120.
Q. What do document do you have in your hand?
A. It is a certificate.
Q. For what?
A. It is from COCOBOD and that I attended Farmers Business School.
Q. What do you want to do with it?
A. I want to show it to the court as evidence to the fact that I’m m a farmer and to upgrade my skills, I attended the Farmers Business School.
Q. Can you tell this court what the Farmers Business School entails?
A. Yes my Lord. We were taught about cocoa farming. We were taught not to burn the weeds when we clear them. This keeps the soil moist. Also, they taught us how to plant plantain in rows in our cocoa farm, in a 10×10 distance. We also learnt to clear our farm 4 times a year.
They taught us how to prune our farms for aeration. They also taught us how chemicals for cocoa looks like and its application. We also learnt about the different types of fertilizers and their use. Some are liquid, others granular. We were taught how to use the nap sack machine and measuring of fertilizers and its application.
Q. What documents do you have in your hand?
A. It is a pass book from COCOBOD that shows where I weigh and sell my harvested cocoa.
Q. Who issues this pass book?
A. We get it from the Purchasing Clerks (PCs)
Q. Who issued this particular pass book to you?
A. This pass book was given to me by Mr. Owusu. That’s how we call him.
Q. Where does he work?
A. He works with Eliho-Touton PC limited at Nkrankwanta.
Q. Which company is this?
A. When you come to our area we have several cocoa buying companies. This is one of them.
Q. Which other companies do you sell your cocoa to?
A. I also sell some to PBC, and Adwumapa.
Q. Can you open the document to see your picture in it? On the document you have PBC on it, isn’t it?
A. I can explain.
Q. On your picture which is exhibit 122 in your passbook, there is a stamp with inscription PBC. Is that not so?
A. It is so.
Q. But you said you sell your cocoa to Eliho-Touton?
A. I get the book from PBC, but sometime ago when I took the cocoa to PBC, they didn’t have money, so I took it to Eliho-Touton. They always have money to purchase my cocoa.
Q. Is that the only cocoa passbook you have?
A. No, I have others.
Q. Where are they?
A. I didn’t bring them.
Q. Can you take a look at this document? What is it?
A. It is a program outline from COCOVISION programme that I attended in Switzerland.
Q. In what year?
A. In 2018
Q. How did you attend this program? And what was it about?
A. Because COCOBOD officials know about my farms, the CE, Joseph Boahen Aidoo and other top officials visited my farms on many occasions. So in 2017, when I won the overall best farmer, this led to their visit in the year 2018 and they realized why I was adjudged national best farmer in 2017.
They later called me to inquire if I have travelled before and I had a passport. They asked me to bring my passport to Accra. They took it and called me back in a week’s time. When I came, they took me to the embassy and got a visa for me. They paid for all cost incurred.
Q. All cost incurred to where?
A. To Switzerland.
Q. What was the conference about?
A. We met in Switzerland to discuss about cocoa and how the prices of cocoa can be increased.
Q. You informed this court that you were taught how to use fertilizers. When did you start using fertilizers on your cocoa farms?
A. I started using fertilisers on my farms in 2010. At that time I was using Sidalco fertiliser.
Q. What are the types of fertilisers supplied by COCOBOD that you used on your farms?
A. There are two types of fertilisers. They are the granular and the liquid.
Q. Can you indicate to the court the names of the fertilizers, the granular and liquid fertilisers?
A. Some of the granular fertiliser include; Asaasewura, Cocofeed and Adom cocoa fertiliser.
Q. Can you give us some of the liquid fertilizers?
A. The liquid fertilisers include Begreen, Sidalco and Lithovit.
Q. How is fertilizer distributed in COCOBOD?
A. We have local farmers groups that when they bring the fertilizer, they call the groups to present the ID cards of their members. With my membership in the group, I get 5 or 6 bottles of fertilisers, which is not enough, considering the size of my farm. I approached COCOBOD and requested for more. They agreed and were supplying me separately.
Q. You mentioned Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser as one of the fertilizer supplied by COCOBOD. Can you tell this court if you have used Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on your farms before?
A. Yes my Lord.
Q. Can you tell this court in which year you first applied the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on your farms?
A. In 2014.
Q. Can you tell the court which other years you used the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser?
A. In 2015 and in 2016, I used the remainder.
Q. Did you use Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on all your farms in the years 2014, 2015, and 2016?
A. When I went for the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser, I was told to apply it about 5 to 6 times in a year. But due to the sizes of farms, if I said I was going to use the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on all my farms, it wouldn’t have been sufficient for all. So I decided to apply it to only 3 of my farms to see the results.
Q. What was the result of using the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on these 3 farms?
A. The result was that, I had a lot of yield on all 3 farms that I applied the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser than all the other farms that year. Even though, I did the same work on all the other farms.
Q. How did you apply the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser?
A. I applied it as I was taught. I was taught to use 30mm of the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser in a half filled tank of my spraying machine. After that, I wear protective clothing before using any chemical on the farm. We were also taught to spray the leaves of the cocoa and the buds of the cocoa plant.
Q. What kinds of machine did you use to spray this Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser F?
A. We were taught at the Farmers Business School to use the nap sack machine to spray when the cocoa is young. And when the crop is matured, we use the motorise machine.
Q. You said Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser increased your yield on these 3 farms. Can you tell us where these 3 farms are?
A. One is the first farm I did and it’s located at Nkrankwanta. The second is at Nkrankwanta, behind my poultry farm. The third one is at Ahenfiekrom, all in Dormaa district in the Bono region.
Q. Can you have a look at exhibit 122, which is your passbook? Why would you say the use of Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser increased your yield?
A. When you look at the cocoa on the 3 farms that I applied the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser on, the cocoa trees had more yield. Also, I used to pass through other farms and the farmers told me they also have lots of yield from their cocoa trees and when I enquired, though he could not tell the exact fertilizer, he mentioned the company producing the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser as Agricult.
Q. How do you know that this Agricult Company is the same as the Agricult which produces the Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser which the farmers informed you he used?
A. When I came home and checked the bottle of the LLF, I saw that it was the same company which produces the LLF and the same bottle I saw with the other farmer.
Q. And what was the result of these different fertilizers on the yield as compared to the three farms that you used Lithovit?
A. My Lord, like I earlier stated I use same technique on all my farms in the same manner. The other farms that I used different fertilizers also increased my yield but not as much as the other three farms that I applied Lithovit liquid fertilizer. The labourers who work on my farms were surprised at these farms and I explained to them why.
Sometime after, the CHED officer who gave me the LLF came to see the yield of my 3 farms and also asked how I had that much, and I explained to him it was as a result of the LLF he gave me and its application which I followed.
