Cocoa farmers threaten to halt production

Cocoa farmers in the country have threatened to halt production if government does not increase cocoa producer prices for the 2018/2019 cocoa season.

Government has resolved to maintaining  cocoa producer prices at GHC475 per bag.

President of the Cocoa Farmers Association Nana Opambour Bonsu says that due to this development, members would be forced out of business, leaving the country without an industry.

“We are the farmers on the ground and we know what is happening and we know the challenges the farmers are going through, ”he said.

He added that ” the GHC475 is nothing, its peanuts. What we are saying is if government can’t buy our cocoa at 1,000 cedis, then we are sorry, we will not produce the cocoa”.

This follows the Agric minister’s announcement on Monday that government will maintain the price of each bag of cocoa at GHC475 cedis.

Meanwhile, a former deputy minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson has said that government has cheated cocoa farmers, asking for an immediate reversal of government’s decision to maintain the producer price for cocoa at GHS 475 per bag.

He said “Government has to add GHC35 to the existing price of a bag of cocoa”.

source: starrfmonline