Citizen Watch commends gov’t for swift action on farmgate price for cocoa

Citizen Watch, one of the leading think tank groups in the country, has commended Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government for reviewing the farmgate price for cocoa farmers.

The government has agreed to pay $1,820 (GHC9,800) per tonne to Ghanaian cocoa farmers which represent 70% of the floor price of $2,600 for the 2020/2021 crop season.

“This is laudable and we commend the government for listening to us after we called for the farmgate price to be increased. This response by government over our preposition did not take long and has demonstrated its commitment towards the industry.

“This new farmgate price, we believe would harmonise prices in the cocoa sector and also reduce smuggling of cocoa beans,” Citizen Watch said.

The comment was contained in a statement issued in Accra and signed by Francis Mensah, the Convener of the group.

“We are also calling on the cocoa farmers to uphold the international standard practices, and also commit their efforts to complement government efforts, by reducing the rate of smuggling of cocoa beans to other neighbouring countries, since it has the tendency of killing the industry,” the statement said.

Citizen Watch is entreating Ghanaians “that cocoa has supported our economy over the years and we must intensify our efforts in this area to sustain our economy, through which we can expand our economy.”

Citizen Watch has however called on COCOBOD to give the needed support for processing of cocoa in the country.

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, the two main countries that produces cocoa, have agreed on a floor price of $2,600 per tonne for cocoa beans.

Citizen Watch recently issued a statement asking the government to increase the farmgate price for cocoa farmers to GHC9000 per tonne.
COCOBOD is set to sign its annual cocoa loan syndication deal with some 20 French banks in September 2019.

This was after it secured Parliament’s approval to borrow up to $1.5 billion to aid cocoa purchases for the 2019/2020 crop season.

Source: Myjoyonline.com