Save our cocoa industry now!

Cocoa remains the lifeblood of the country. For a very long time Ghana was the leading producer and exporter of the beans until it was dislodged by neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire. Now Ghana is second, followed by Indonesia and Cameroon.

Tetteh Quarshie of blessed memory brought cocoa beans from Fernando Po (now Bioko) to cultivate the first cocoa farms at Mampong-Akuapem.

Since then, the country’s farmers have not relented in their efforts at producing cocoa in large quantities for sale to earn foreign exchange for the country.

The Daily Graphic recalls the major steps taken by the government in 1983 to replant cocoa farms destroyed by bushfires or abandoned by farmers which saw, within a couple of years, the industry bouncing back on track.

The mixed fortunes, notwithstanding, our governments have put in place various measures to restore the industry to its glorious days.

These measures include the mass spraying of cocoa farms and the supply of free seedlings to the farmers. Bonuses were also restored to motivate the farmers to produce more, while producer prices were increased annually, except this year, when the price was maintained because of a decline in the world market price.

The incentive package paid off, as in 2010, the country produced one million tonnes of the beans, a feat considered unprecedented.

It was envisaged that the tonnage would increase in subsequent years but, unfortunately, the industry has been in decline over the last two cocoa seasons.

The Daily Graphic calls on the government to maintain the momentum to increase the tonnage and not to allow anything to detract from plans for Ghana to become the leading producer of cocoa in the near future.

That is why we think the government should not allow loggers to destroy cocoa farms.

The Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr Tony Fofie, has told the Daily Graphic that the country risks losing about 90 per cent of its cocoa farms if it does not take adequate action to regain farmlands given out as concessions for logging.

The report indicates that almost all the cocoa farms, which are mostly located in parts of the Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Ashanti regions, have been licensed by the Lands Commission as areas demarcated for logging by chainsaw operators.

The Daily Graphic calls on the Lands Commission to cancel all those concessions given to chainsaw operators to save the cocoa industry from collapse.

Daily Graphic/Ghana