Cocoa Farmers at Dunkwa-Atekyem in the Upper-Denkyira-East Municipality of the Central Region, have appealed to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and other relevant stakeholders to intervene a worrying land dispute.
The farmers said the dispute involved the alleged sale of about 99 hectares of their cocoa farms to private estate developers.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, the affected farmers claimed that their families had cultivated those lands for generations and explained that they were acquired by their great-grandparents from the then Ayanfuri Chief several decades ago.
Mr Samuel Ofori, a spokesperson for the affected farmers, said successive generations had inherited the farms and depended on cocoa production as their main source of livelihood.
He alleged that the Chief of Dunkwa, Nana Obeng Nuakoh III, had recently sold the cocoa farms to private estate developers without consulting the affected farmers or engaging them in prior negotiations.
Mr Ofori said the alleged sale, had left the affected families at risk of losing their main source of income.
Mrs Oforiwaa Kumah, one of the farmers and others appealed to the authorities to intervene to protect their livelihoods and resolve the dispute.
However, when contacted, Nana Obeng Nuakoh declined to comment, saying the matter was currently before the law court.
