Business News of Thursday, 10 June 2021
Source: business24.com.gh
2021-06-10
The Member of Parliament for Amenfi West, Eric Afful, is looking forward to government making good his promise to pay affected cocoa farmers in his constituency.
His concerns follows a question he posed to the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr.Owusu Afriyie Akoto on the floor of parliament on Wednesday, June 9 on when the government will release money to pay the affected cocoa farmers whose farms have been engaged by the Ghana COCOBOD for the programme of rehabilitation of over-aged cocoa farms in Ghana having regard to the season.
In response to the question, Dr.Afriyie Akoto stated that COCOBOD targeted a total of 91,400 hectares of diseased cocoa farms, for rehabilitation with financing from the African Development Bank/Credit Suisse (AfDB/CS) facility.
The rehabilitation entails treatment and replanting of cocoa affected by the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Disease(CSSVD).
In the current year 2021, COCOBOD has covered a total of 22,375.25 hectares of cocoa farms under the rehabilitation programme. A total of 10,310.681.54 has been paid to 11,289 affected farmers.
“Equally 418 landowners with a total land size of 454.48 hectares of cocoa farms have been compensated with an amount of GH₵454,480.00 at the time of reporting. Processes are still underway to pay additional landowners in due course” he said.