Cocoa, until the discovery of oil, was the backbone of Ghana’s economy. Most of the infrastructural development the country had embarked upon since gaining independence from British colonial rule came on the back of proceeds from cocoa. Indeed, one cannot talk about cocoa without mentioning the name Ghana, because we used to be the number one world producer of the commodity.
But, despite the tremendous support from the sector towards the growth of the economy, the farmers who cultivate the product are poorly paid. It is, therefore, not surprising that most of them live in poverty and die in poverty.
This development is also making it virtually impossible for them to look after their children to pursue higher levels of education. This means they and their generations yet unborn have been consigned to the cycle of poverty.
It is based all these setbacks that The Chronicle welcomes the pronouncement at Sefwi Wiawso, a major cocoa producing town in the Western North Region, by President Akufo-Addo about the hike in the producer price of the commodity.
“Nananom, beginning 1st October 2020, I am happy to announce the award of a new cocoa producer price of GH¢10,560 per metric tonne, equivalent to GH¢660 per bag for the coming 2020/21 crop year. This represents a hike of more than 28% over the price obtained in the outgoing crop year of 2019/2020,” he said.
The current 2019/20 producer price of GH¢8,240 per metric tonne, i.e. GH¢514 per bag, was an 8.2% increase over the 2018/2019 price of GH¢7,615, i.e. GH¢475 per bag.
“By this new producer price, we have kept faith with our commitment under the international arrangement with Côte d’Ivoire and global stakeholders, by awarding to our farmers the full US$400/MT Living Income Differential (LID),” he said, adding, “by this substantial increase in the producer price, we are also delivering on our 2016 manifesto promise to reward handsomely the hard work of our cocoa farmers and their unequalled contribution to the economy of Ghana over the years.”
It is gratifying to note that the President did not only announce the increment, but actually acknowledged the contribution of the farmers to the sustenance of our economy. We hope this encouragement will spur on the farmers to double their efforts in the production of the commodity for the country to regain her lost status as the world number one producer of cocoa.
It is our hope that President Akufo-Addo will also carry out his pledge, which he made many years ago, to set up a pension scheme for the farmers.
As we stated earlier, the living conditions of cocoa farmers, especially when they become weak as a result of old age, and cannot therefore work, is nothing good to write home about. The state, therefore, has the responsibility to take care of them, and the only way to doing so is the pension scheme.
It has been on the drawing board for far too long, and the time to bring it into fruition is now, and the Akufo-Addo government must not fail. All the formal workers have something to live on after years of serving Mother Ghana. Cocoa farmers also deserve the same treatment from the state.
The post Editorial: Hike in cocoa prices is great news appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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