The leadership of the Cocoa Board of Ghana (COCOBOD) has refuted former President John Mahama’s idea of a collapse of the cocoa industry. According to cocoa regulators, such claims are misleading and harm an essential sector such as cocoa, which forms the backbone of Ghana’s economy.
In his statement, he assured the general public that the cocoa industry is not collapsing as the former president had described. Former President Mahama made these remarks while touring the northwestern region, arguing that producer prices and poor management had caused the collapse of the cocoa industry.
Mr. Mahama justified farmers who gave up their cocoa plantations to illegal mining because of the low pay.
“COCOBOD leadership refutes the notion of a collapse of the cocoa industry. These claims are misleading and hurting the vital cocoa sector, which is the backbone of Ghana’s economy. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to clarify and provide an opportunity to rectify the situation.”
He explained that in the 2020/21 harvest season, the country recorded the highest cocoa production of over one million. Therefore, it cannot be said that the cocoa industry, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer has failed.
He continued that COCOBOD continues to invest in interventions that not only sustain but grow the industry. For the first time in industry history, COCOBOD said it is enrolling cocoa farmers across the country into the Cocoa Farmers Retirement Program to ensure a decent retirement.
As such, we remain committed to supporting farmers and ensuring the sustainability of the cocoa industry, and we will continue to work closely with our stakeholders to achieve our goals. COCOBOD said it is universally recognized that galamsey’s activities pose a significant danger to the country and any attempt to justify or rationalize land conversion especially cocoa farms, by former president sought to do.
“This threat has the potential to undermine any government investment to modernize cocoa farming and improve productivity. It is therefore important that prominent figures in our society exercise caution when making public statements aimed at rationalizing cocoa farmers who trade their plantations to obtain temporary monetary benefits through illegal mining,” he added.
COCOBOD also placed on record that the former President`s statement regarding the increase in cocoa producer prices every year during his administration is inaccurate, since the records available point to the opposite. “Specifically, there was no upward adjustment of the producer price of cocoa in the 2012/2013 Crop Season. Similarly, the producer price of the preceding season was maintained for the 2015/2016 Crop Season, with no upward adjustment.
Indeed, within a three-year period of the former President`s administration, i.e. the 2010/2011 to 2012/2013 crop season, there was a total of six% increase in the producer price”, it emphasized. In contrast, COCOBOD said within the last three years, there has been a 23%, 0% and a 21% increase in the producer price of cocoa, adding
“it is important to note that the producer price is largely determined by international market prices as well as other industry costs, and every effort is made to arrive at a producer price that is fair to farmers even when international market conditions are unfavorable”.
