The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has revealed why it had maintained the producer price for cocoa contrary to the expectations of the Ghanaian cocoa farmer.
Manager at the office of the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo, speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen Wednesday said the fall in cocoa prices at the world market by 40% is now a public threat and must be of concern to every well-meaning Ghanaian.
“The FOB price of cocoa was GHC 728.38 per bag in 2016/2017 while the producer price at that time was GHC 475 per bag. Even though the FOB (World Market) price dropped GHC 527 per bag in 2017/2018, the Akufo-Addo government decided to maintain the same producer price of GHC 475 per bag,” he said.
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COCOBOD has announced that the Producer Price of cocoa for the 2018/2019 cocoa season will remain at GHC 475 per a 65kg bag despite the drastic fall in the commodity’s price on the international market
This means the industry regulator will be buying a tonne of cocoa beans for GH¢7,600 from cocoa farmers for the 2018/2019 crop year; same as it did for the just ended crop season.
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Mr Boafo said the decision was the only laudable alternative since Ghana is the only country, out of the 22 cocoa producing countries, to have maintained its producer price despite the decline in the FOB price.
“This decision was not taken by COCOBOD alone. Other stakeholders who matter were all part of the decision and that is how come we arrived at this decision,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo, he noted, has been fair following government’s decision to peg the 2018/2019 cocoa season price and should be commended.
But the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed their displeasure over the issue.
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Member of Parliament for Bodi in the Western Region, Sampson Ahi on the same show said the NDC has found it necessary to make the intervention because it sincerely believes the Akuffo-Addo government is displaying gross insensitivity towards cocoa farmers by adopting the current producer price determination formula.
“This move will impoverish cocoa farmers who toil and labour under very deprived conditions to sustain our economy. We wish to indicate that the reasons assigned for the maintenance of the producer price at Gh¢475 per bag of cocoa are highly unacceptable,” he said.