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Ghana is losing huge sums of money as a result of the continuous destruction of cocoa produced in the Ahafo Ano South District of the Ashanti region. The roofs of the sheds constructed in the district for the storage of cocoa beans were damaged about five years. George Adusei, the Quality Control Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in the district, in an interview told the paper that several attempts to rehabilitate the sheds have proved futile. He mentioned that the damaged sheds could be found in Doteam, Adukrom, Nyameadom, Adadekrom, Ahwerewam and Hwibaa, all cocoa growing communities in the Ahafo Ano South District. The Quality Control Officer said cocoa beans go bad because of the poor state of the sheds. Mr. Adusei noted that though his outfit has made several appeals to the authorities to repair the sheds to address the problems, nothing has been done about the situation. He emphasized that the time has come for government to take steps to resolve the problems. The Quality Control Officer expressed grave concern about the manner in which cocoa farmers in the district dry their produce, stressing that the development was affecting the quality of cocoa produced in the area. Mr. Adusei indicated that some the farmers dry the cocoa beans for only three days instead at least six days, which makes some of the beans purple and moldy. According to him, purple and moldy cocoa beans cannot be used to produce quality chocolates and other cocoa products. The Quality Control Officer also bemoaned the situation whereby some farmers sell their produce to companies outside the district in spite of the presence of many Produce Buying Companies (PBCs) in the district. This, according to him, affects COCOBOD�s scholarship scheme offered to the district. Mr. Adusei therefore entreated the farmers to sell their produce to companies operating in the area so that the district�s share of the COCOBOD scholarship scheme could go up.