Increase in producer price of cocoa inadequate — Minority
The Minority in Parliament has described the increase in the producer price of cocoa from GH¢5,520 per tonne to GH¢6,720 per tonne by the government as woefully inadequate.
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It accused the government of underpaying the cocoa farmer and continuing a policy which had undermined the cocoa industry.
Addressing journalists in Accra, the Minority Spokesperson on Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu-Afriyie Akoto, said cocoa was fetching more than US$3,000 per metric tonne on the international markets.
Moreover, he added, Ghana's cocoa attracted a price premium of between 15 and 20 per cent because of its high quality.
"These positive market trends and the rapid depreciation of the cedi against the US Dollar should enable the government to offer the cocoa farmers far more than the GH¢420 per bag which it has now fixed for the 2015/2016 season," he said.
Dr Akoto said the price of cocoa on the international market and the exchange rates of the Ghana Cedi against the US Dollar were major considerations in fixing the producer price of cocoa.
"These two factors have become even more paramount given the sharp drop in cocoa production to barely 700,000 metric tonnes in the just ended 2014/2015, from the peak of one million metric tonnes in 2010/2011," he added.
Background
On Friday October 2, 2015, the government announced a new cocoa producer price for the current 2015/ 2016 season.
The new price is GH¢6,720 per metric tonne, which is equivalent to GH¢420 per bag of 64kg.
The new price, compared with the 2014/2015 price of GH¢5520 per metric tonne, which is equivalent to GH¢345 per bag, was an increase of 21.7 per cent.