Unicom pays premium to farmers
Unicom Ghana Ltd, a cocoa purchasing company, has announced the payment of Gh¢2.5 million in premiums to cocoa farmers belonging to the company, for the 2016-2017 cocoa season.
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Each cocoa farmer is expected to receive Gh¢17 as bonus on each bag of cocoa sold to the company.
More than 15,000 cocoa farmers in all the cocoa growing districts in the country stand to benefit from the package and it is expected that about 240,000 bags of certified cocoa which is approximately 15,000 metric tons, would be sold to the company this cocoa season.
Premium
Based on a grading by cocoa buyers on the international market, the premiums, also known as bonuses, are paid to deserving farmers for selling certified cocoa beans to cocoa buying companies.
The General Manager (GM) of Unicom Ghana Ltd, Mr Akwasi Gyamfi Acheampong, announced the package at Samreboi in the West Amenfi District in the Western Region.
He said farmers were paid premium as a means of motivating them to produce more as they applied good agricultural practices.
He pledged the company’s readiness to enhance the operations of cocoa farmers by giving them training in good farming and environmental practices, efficient record keeping and other strategies.
Mr Acheampong reminded the farmers to have hope in the company since it had developed many good initiatives that would boost their income and standard of living when put to use.
He mentioned drilling of boreholes in farming communities and training on livelihood projects as some of the support the company was extending to cocoa farmers associated with it.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Amenfi West Constituency, Mr Eric Afful, said the role licensed buying companies (LBCs) were playing in the nation’s cocoa industry was very crucial as such called on all to play their part to improve the cocoa sector.
He was not happy that even though cocoa farmers in the Samreboi area had topped the chart in cocoa production in the country over the past three years, yet the state of roads in the area were very poor.
Mr Afful appealed to the government to do something urgently about the state of roads in the Samreboi area to encourage cocoa farmers to produce more for the nation.
Unicom Ghana Ltd, also presented some tricycles and other packages to the farmers on hire purchase.
