The government’s commited to putting policies and initiatives in place to support the cocoa industry has been reiterated by Samuel Addo Agyakwa, Central Regional Director of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
According to him, these measures will guarantee that the country and farmers receive the greatest possible profits from the industry.
Mr. Addo Agyakwa urged farmers to demand payment from buying clerks (PCs) and representatives of Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) after the government recently approved cash for the payment of cocoa beans purchased from farmers.
During his official introduction as the new Central Regional Director of COCOBOD, he made this statement while visiting the Swedruman Council of Chiefs.
Regarding the price of cocoa, he stated that farmers who sold cocoa prior to the announcement of the producer price drop were to be compensated at the previous producer price of GH¢3,500 per bag.
He emphasised that the decrease in producer pricing was not meant to hurt farmers as some had thought, but rather was required due to drops in global cocoa prices.
Mr. Addo Agyakwa asked farmers to report such actions to the Agona Swedru COCOBOD office, expressing worry that certain PCs and LBC officials had exploited the current circumstances to influence cocoa prices.
Regarding cocoa farm rehabilitation, he stated that the government had implemented policies to assist farmers in revitalising old cocoa farms in order to increase output in the area.
He referred to cocoa as the foundation of the country’s economy and stated that the government would keep giving the industry top priority in order to increase its contribution to economic expansion.
The Regional Director stated that the nation’s infrastructure, healthcare, and educational scholarship programs have benefited greatly from the cocoa industry’s earnings.
Mr. Addo Agyakwa promised farmers that they would have access to inputs for the provision of agrochemicals, despite the fact that importation procedures occasionally caused delays.
In order to avoid interruptions in fertiliser and spraying, he counselled farmers to purchase goods from nearby marketplaces when needed.
In order to boost foreign exchange revenues and fortify the economy, he urged chiefs and farmers to back government initiatives to revitalise the cocoa industry.
Regarding the mass cocoa spraying initiative, Mr. Addo Agyakwa stated that COCOBOD will look into payment delays for spraying gangs, noting that these setbacks were occasionally connected to gang leaders’ late filing of paperwork.
In addition to praising the Swedruman Council of Chiefs for supporting the cocoa industry, he promised that COCOBOD will regularly meet with traditional leaders, chief farmers, and cocoa producers to discuss government policies and initiatives.
The Agona Swedru region used to be one of the Central Region’s top producers of cocoa, according to Nana Kweku Esieni V, Acting President of the Swedruman Council of Chiefs.
He urged the government to expand the widespread cocoa spraying program in a manner akin to that of former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s administration, which contributed to the country’s cocoa output reaching approximately one million tonnes.
In order to increase yields, Nana Esieni also asked COCOBOD to step up the rehabilitation of sick and infested cocoa estates.
He urged the government to examine the producer price in order to rebuild trust in the industry, expressing worry that some cocoa farmers and farm labourers had been deterred from maintaining their fields by the recent producer price cut.
Source: newsthemegh.com