Minority unhappy with govt on cocoa price, fertiliser sale
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority caucus in Parliament has urged Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) not to interfere with the fixing of a producer price for cocoa farmers.
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Mr Aidoo is reported to have announced in a radio discussion in Accra on June 8, 2017 to the effect “that the producer price of cocoa will not be increased and farmers will not be paid bonus for the 2017/ 2018 Cocoa Season because the world market price has fallen”.
The announcement has since generated discussions in the media and the NDC Caucus, at a news conference in Parliament House yesterday, reminded the CEO that he was not “clothed with the mandate to determine the producer price of cocoa for farmers”.
Price review committee
The news conference was addressed by Mr Eric Opoku, the Ranking Member of the Food and Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee.
In attendance were Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, the Deputy Minority Chief Whip; the Ranking Member on Finance, Mr Casiel Ato Forson; Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini, the Ranking Member on Communications, and Mr Kobena Mensah Woyome, the Ranking Member on Youth, Sports and Culture.
Others were Mr Samuel Abdulai Jabanyite, the MP for Chereponi; Mr Sampson Ahi, the MP for Bodi, and Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the MP for Juaboso.
According to Minority, many of the Minority MPs present are cocoa farmers and they reminded the COCOBOD CEO that it was the duty of the Producer Price Review Committee to determine the producer price of cocoa, taking into consideration several factors, including the economic situation prevailing in the country.
“We are urging the CEO of COCOBOD to allow the committee, established in 1984 and which has since discharged its duties effectively and efficiently, to continue with its work without any form of usurpation,” it said.
Cocoa Stabilisation Fund
It recalled that under former President John Mahama, the Cocoa Stabilisation Fund was established purposely to sustain earnings of cocoa farmers, as well as cushion them in the event of a fall in market price.
The group, therefore, advised the government to use the fund “to put smiles on the faces of our farmers”, in the face of the recent decline in the price of cocoa internationally.
“We are encouraging the CEO of COCOBOD, therefore, to make public how much has been accumulated in the fund and what benefits farmers are getting out of it,” it said, and further called for the usual extensive stakeholder consultations in achieving the best for the country’s cocoa farmers.
The Minority also said former President Mahama introduced the Cocoa Fertilisation Programme to, among other things, increase cocoa production, adding that under the programme, fertiliser supply was free.
“Surprisingly, the NPP administration, on assumption of office, has replaced the free Cocoa Fertilisation Programme and farmers are now paying GH¢80 for a bag of fertiliser,” the Minority said, adding: “This is unacceptable; we cannot sit aloof for the government to cheat cocoa farmers.”
It described as “broad daylight robbery” the sale of the same fertiliser that “cocoa farmers had indirectly paid for through a producer price determination formula used during the 2016/17 cocoa season”.
It urged the government to be sensitive to the plight of the Ghanaian cocoa farmer and halt the sale of fertiliser and revert to the NDC’s free fertilisation programme for the 2016/17 cocoa season.
For his part, Mr Ahi advised Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of COCOBOD, to stop telling cocoa farmers that there was no increase in the producer price of cocoa.
He indicated that disseminating that information was the duty of the Public Affairs Department of the COCOBOD. — GNA