The government is set to pay 9 billion cedis out of COCOBOD’s 32 billion cedi debt in September this year.
The ongoing crisis in the sector is also jeopardizing Ghana’s position as the world’s second-largest cocoa producer.
President John Mahama made this announcement during a meeting with the National Executive of the Cocoa-Coffee and Shea Nut Farmers Association of Ghana at the Presidency.
He stated that the government plans to revitalize the sector by paying 70 percent of the producer price directly to farmers as an incentive. Additionally, the government will ensure the timely provision of agrochemical fertilizers and high-quality seedlings to boost cocoa production, aiming to surpass last year’s output.
“As the finance minister mentioned in the budget statement, the cocoa board today owes 32 billion cedis, and they’re supposed to pay 9 billion by September. That is all money that should have gone to farmers. Unfortunately, we’re using it to pay debts. Production is down. Meanwhile, as production has dwindled, the staff strength of the cocoa board has skyrocketed.
” I thought that if your production was going down and your income was going down, you would either maintain your staff strength or even reduce it. That is what all private businesses do.”
” But in your business, while production was going down, prices were going down, and employment was going up, and so the cocoa board ends up spending, as last year, 3 point something billion—3.4 billion or something—on mostly administrative and headquarters expenses.”
And the thing about the cocoa business is that the bulk of the benefits of the cocoa industry should go to the farmer so that it incentivizes him to look after his cocoa farm and make sure that it produces more. I can understand that, yes, climate change is affecting the cocoa industry.
I can also understand that, yes, Galamse is affecting the cocoa industry. But the best incentive to keep cocoa production up is to pay the farmer a fair price for his cocoa,”
