Mr Samuel Addo Agyakwa, Central Regional Director of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to implementing policies and programmes to strengthen the cocoa sector.
He said such policies would also ensure farmers and the nation derive maximum benefits from the sector.
Mr Addo Agyakwa said the Government had recently released funds for the payment of cocoa beans purchased from farmers and urged them to demand payment from purchasing clerks (PCs) and officials of Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs).
He said this during a visit to the Swedruman Council of Chiefs to officially introduce himself as the new Central Regional Director of COCOBOD.
Touching on cocoa pricing, he said farmers who sold cocoa before the announcement of the producer price reduction should be paid the previous producer price of GH¢3,500 per bag.
He explained that the reduction in producer prices was necessitated by declines in international cocoa prices and was not intended to disadvantage farmers, as some had perceived.
Mr Addo Agyakwa expressed concern that some PCs and LBC officials had taken advantage of the prevailing situation to manipulate cocoa prices and urged farmers to report such practices to the Agona Swedru COCOBOD office.
On cocoa farm rehabilitation, he said the Government had put in place measures to support farmers in rejuvenating ageing cocoa farms to boost production in the region.
He described cocoa as the backbone of the national economy and said the Government would continue to prioritise the sector to enhance its contribution to economic growth.
The Regional Director noted that revenue from the cocoa industry had contributed significantly to infrastructure development, healthcare, and educational scholarship programmes across the country.
Regarding the supply of agrochemicals, Mr Addo Agyakwa assured farmers that inputs would be made available to them, although delays occasionally occurred due to importation processes.
He advised farmers to procure inputs from local markets where necessary to prevent disruptions in spraying and fertiliser application.
He called on chiefs and farmers to support Government efforts aimed at revitalising the cocoa sector to increase foreign exchange earnings and strengthen the economy.
On the mass cocoa spraying programme, Mr Addo Agyakwa said COCOBOD would investigate delays in the payment of spraying gangs, explaining that such setbacks were sometimes linked to the late submission of documentation by gang leaders.
He commended the Swedruman Council of Chiefs for its support for the cocoa sector and pledged that COCOBOD would hold regular engagements with traditional authorities, chief farmers and cocoa growers to explain government policies and programmes.
Nana Kweku Esieni V, Acting President of the Swedruman Council of Chiefs, recalled that the Agona Swedru area was once among the leading cocoa-producing areas in the Central Region.
He appealed to the Government to strengthen the mass cocoa spraying programme, similar to initiatives implemented during the administration of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, which helped increase national cocoa output to about one million tonnes.
Nana Esieni also urged COCOBOD to intensify the rehabilitation of diseased and infested cocoa farms to improve yields.
He expressed concern that the recent producer price reduction had discouraged some cocoa farmers and farm labourers from maintaining their farms and appealed to the Government to review the producer price to restore confidence in the sector.
Source : Access Agric
