The Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP) has proposed a “15-20% increment in the farm gate price of cocoa” ahead of the announcement of the farm gate price for 2022/2023 cocoa season next week.
This call comes on the back of challenges forcing cocoa farmers and landowners to “sell their lands to miners for money” coupled with economic challenges in the year under review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/bJvYjUHFVQE
The coalition cautioned that “cocoa farmers do not feel that their efforts and toils are properly and fairly being compensated, hence the alternative (even if not the best of decisions) is to cash in and move out of the cocoa space.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/BlLE59-_VH8
This development affects the “long-term survivability of the cocoa industry” therefore the government is rallying the support of cocoa farmers to help in the fight against illegal mining by desisting from selling farmlands to illegal miners, popularly known as galamseyers.
The Coordinator of Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), Nana Kwasi Barning Ackah in a statement explained that the year under review showed that this was the “full post-COVID cocoa season” with major effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on “inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides.”
Also, Mr. Ackah added that “the Ghana cedi has been on a free-fall against major trading currencies which has led to unprecedented inflation levels and high cost of goods and services. We also take notice of the challenges of funds to purchase cocoa which saw farmers not being paid on the spot when they deliver their beans at the cocoa shed.”
Click here for full statement.
