Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform challenges Agric Minister’s claims on cocoa price increase

The Co-Convener of the Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform, Obed Owusu-Addae, has challenged some claims made by the Food and Agriculture Minister, Bryan Acheampong, regarding the recent increase in cocoa farm gate prices.

Speaking on News Night on Metro TV on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, Mr. Owusu-Addae explained that the Minister’s claim of a 129% increment is misleading, saying that the current price stands at 2,070 cedis, which does not support the stated percentage increase.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, on Wednesday, September 11, announced a 129.36% increase in the producer price of cocoa for the 2024/2025 cocoa season, effective Wednesday, September 11, 2024.

He noted that the price has risen from GH¢20,928 per tonne at the opening of the 2023/2024 season to GH¢48,000 per tonne, or from GH¢1,308 per 64kg bag to GH¢3,000 per 64kg bag.

However, the minister’s assertion has been refuted by Co-Convener of the Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform. He explained that while the 129% figure could be valid when comparing the current price to the previous year’s increment of 1,308 cedis, it is inaccurate to represent it as the current increment.

“The Minister’s statement that they have done 129% increment on the cocoa farm gate price is not true. The current price is 2070 cedis, so if you have moved from to 3000 that cannot be 129%.”

“If they are saying from last year when they did the increment in September 2023, which was 1308 cedis, then you would understand that there has been that increment of 129%, but you cannot say you have done 129% on current price,” he told Michael Addo, Metro TV on News Night..

The Co-Convener of the Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform, Obed Owusu-Addae, also criticized the government’s decision to set the farm gate price at 3,000 cedis per bag, arguing that the increase fails to matchup with the rising costs of production faced by cocoa farmers.

He noted that continuous increase in commodity prices, labour costs, and the challenges of illegal mining on cocoa lands are serious, which must be addressed, but there seem to be no help from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).

“For us farmers, we think that the 45% increment or 3000 cedis per bag that government is paying for farm gate price is not good enough because it does not cover our cost of production.”

“The argument we are making is that when government wants to increase price, they need to take into consideration how much it cost the cocoa farmers to produce a bag of cocoa. As we are speaking, commodities have increased, prices have increased, labour has gone up, our lands are being taken over by illegal miners, and having to litigate to get our lands back, COCOBOD is not helping us in anyway in doing that.”

“And to talk about increasing and looking at how the market is behaving, to only increase it by 45% is not enough,” Mr. Owusu-Addae insisted.

By: Bright Yao Dzakah | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana

 

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