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The Ghana Cocoa Farmers Association and its Chief Farmers in the Bono Region’s Berekum East Municipality have urgently urged the Ghanaian government and the Ghana Cocoa Board to raise the price of cocoa from the present GHC660 per bag to GHC1,000 during the 2022–2023 cocoa harvest.
An untold burden has been placed on the lives of Ghanaian cocoa farmers as a result of the high cost of building materials, agricultural inputs, fuel, utility services, and transportation costs, according to Nana Kwadwo Baobeng, secretary of the association, who addressed the media at a press conference in Berekum. For this reason, the association is urging the government to raise the price of cocoa for the farmers.
According to him, all government employees’ salaries have grown in response to the country’s economic difficulties, and it is intolerable to provide some support for government employees—such as teachers obtaining their COLA allowance and other benefits—while abandoning farmers.
In addition, the hardship that farmers are experiencing is intolerable, and if precautions are not taken, the situation of farmers will discourage the majority of the country’s youth from entering the farming industry, which will ultimately reduce the nation’s production of cocoa and lower our country’s foreign exchange.
Nana Kwasi Diawuo, the Chief Farmer of Berekum Municipal and the Association’s Chairman, also drew the attention of the government and the Ghana Cocoa Board to the fact that cocoa farmers also go to the same markets as other citizens do, and since the government is committed to helping businesses grow, why shouldn’t the cocoa farmers receive the same assistance? As a result, the price of cocoa should be increased to GHc100.00 in the 2022–2023 cocoa.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com/Opamago Paparichy
