Cocoa farmers demand dollar-quoted producer prices
Cocoa Farmers within the Hohoe-Kpeve cocoa district have called for the producer price of cocoa to be quoted in dollars to reduce loss of value of cocoa due to the weak and unstable cedi.
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The lot of cocoa farmers, according to the President of Unity Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited, Mr Yaw Botsoe, will be better, and that would attract more youth into cocoa farming and stop smuggling if government heeds to their call.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic during the inauguration of the co-operative union at Hohoe, Mr Botsoe lamented that “exchange rates go up and market prices draw along but the quantity of cedi remains constant for the cocoa farmers which brings big losses to them”.
He further added that the establishment of a micro-finance package to provide the financial needs of farmers and support farm commercialisation could also address issues of poverty among cocoa farmers.
Cocoa Yields Low
Mr Botsoe said though the cocoa industry was the largest single supporter of the economy, over the past years, yields for peasant farmers had remained low resulting in poor standard of living for the farmers.
“Records show that the Ghanaian cocoa farm yields about 400kg per acre a year, whereas the yields for Indonesia for instance stand at 1000 kg per acre,” he said.
Calling for support for cocoa farmers, Mr Botsoe said the government should not forget that “the golden hen which lays the golden eggs needs proper care”.
“Attractive opportunities for advancement are what we cocoa farmers need to make our lives better,” he added.
The union
The establishment of the union is to help enhance sustainable cocoa production in the cocoa district and improve the standard of living of cocoa farmers.
The Unity-Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited comprises 70 cocoa farmer groups with over 2000 farmers who cultivate over 7,000 acres of cocoa.
The farmers, having been trained under the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Farmer Business School Programme of the World Cocoa Foundation, are set to create for themselves a ‘millennium cocoa farmer’ capable of serving his or her private interests while supporting the country’s advancement.
The union is to make them credit worthy to access finances and acquire inputs and services to revive their farming businesses.
Union Formation Laudable
The Deputy Executive Director of Cocoa Health and Extension Division, Mr Eric Kwame Adjei, said the formation of the association was laudable, and, when managed well, could see a unified front and an increase in production and income of members.