Increasing Cocoa Pricing Is Not Enough To Better Cocoa Farmers’ Lives – Nana Ofori To Gov’t |

Nana Ofori Owusu has asked government not to overly rejoice for increasing the prices of cocoa for the farmers in the country.

Hundreds of enthusiastic cocoa farmers gathered at the Nana Agyemang Prempeh Park in Tepa last Saturday interrupted the President Nana Akufo Addo’s speech at the official opening of the 2023/24 cocoa season as they jumped and shouted in joy over the President’s announcement of a 63% hike in the producer price of cocoa.

This which is said to be the highest record in 15 years came as a big relief to the farmers, therefore causing them to suddenly swarm the President’s podium amidst singing and dancing, thereby forcing him to suspend his speech for minutes and respond to the cheers and praises.

Though the new cocoa pricing comes with much joy for the farmers, Nana Ofori Owusu opines that the pricing alone will not better the lives of cocoa farmers.

He advised the government to move beyond increasing the pricing to enhancing the value chain of cocoa farmers.

“Let’s look at the entire value chain, the life of the cocoa farmer and improve the life of the cocoa farmer. Because when you increase the price of the cocoa at the end but fertilizer inputs, other inputs, labour and so forth go high, you will see that although the price of cocoa has been increased, the cost of production has also been doubled or trippled in the process”, he emphasized on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” morning programme.

He charged the government to “improve the areas in which the cocoa farmers live. Go and improve the electricity they get; go and improve schools in their area. Go and make sure there is adequate food and so on for them. Go and improve the road networks that will cut their cocoa from there”, stressing “we should look at the totality of the life of the farmer”.

Nana Ofori believed these when done are what will directly and positively change the living conditions of the farmers, so asked the President “to make sure that the value chain for the cocoa farmer is improved”.