Deputy Agriculture Minister in Charge of Perennial Crops, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, has hinted of a rise in the price of cocoa from October in a bid to offset low exports amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The government currently buys one bag of cocoa beans from farmers at ¢515.
COCOBOD CEO Joseph Aidoo said since the cocoa sector was the backbone of Ghana’s economy they have taken ‘a bold decision that will protect the welfare of the 1.2 million cocoa farmers in Ghana’.
Addressing the audience at the NPP Akyem Swedru Constituency campaign team launch, Kennedy Osei Nyarko indicated that government has earmarked an incentive package to increase productivity.
“By October, we will announce a new price. Government is also saying that if you are a farmer and your cocoa trees are diseased or no longer bear fruits, then at the beginning of the new cocoa season, should COCOBOD be allowed to cut them down, they will pay for every tree.”
He also explained that “the total amount will be divided into three and paid over some time. Also, the government will replant all the trees that had to be cut down and will also plant other crops on the land for you for free”.
Ghana’s cocoa sector employs some 800,000 rural families and produces crops worth about $2 billion in foreign exchange annually – considering the ravaging effects of the Coronavirus on economies, COCOBOD fears the future of small-holder cocoa farmers could be bleak.
According to COCOBOD, the fall in cocoa prices due to the Covid-19 crisis has cost the country so far $1 billion.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
