REOPEN COCOA SEASON EARLY (PAGE 46, SEPT 22, 2010)

COCOA farmers in the Eastern Region have appealed to the government to reopen the 2010/2011 cocoa season before the end of the month to enable cocoa farmers to sell their produce early.
That, according to the farmers, would enable them to be paid the actual price of cocoa and meet the needs of their children ahead of the academic year at both basic and second-cycle educational levels.
The farmers said some cocoa purchasing clerks had taken advantage of the closure of the cocoa season to be buying the cocoa from farmers who are in very difficult financial situations at prices lower than the approved ones, in a bid to make profit when the cocoa season reopened.
The Deputy Eastern Regional Chief Farmer, Nana Kwame Asiedu, made the appeal on behalf of the farmers at a farmers’ forum at Koforidua on Friday, held as part of the 10th anniversary of the listing of the Produce Buying Company on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The event, which was organised and funded by the Produce Buying Company (PBC), brought together cocoa farmers including all the chief cocoa farmers in the 11 cocoa-growing districts in the region, as well as purchasing clerks of the company.
According to Nana Kwame Asiedu, the annual closure of the cocoa purchasing season in early August and reopening in late September or the first week in October have always negatively affected cocoa farmers because some of them have to sell the produce at lower prices to some of the purchasing clerks who derive the maximum benefit after the re-opening of the cocoa season.
On behalf of cocoa farmers, he appealed to the government to ensure that the 2010/2011 cocoa season is reopened as soon as possible to end what he referred to as “cheating in the highest order” by some purchasing clerks.
The Eastern Regional Manager of the PBC, Mr Mark Kwame Addo, however, asked the cocoa farmers to always sell their produce to the PBC with the assurance that should there be an increase in the producer price of cocoa, PBC would pay the difference in price.
Mr Addo advised the farmers to increase production as cocoa had supported them and the economy for a very long time.
He said in spite of the discovery of oil, cocoa would continue to improve the lot of Ghanaians.
Mr Addo traced the history of the establishment of the PBC to 1947 and said it now controlled about 37 per cent of the market share and was listed on the stock exchange. Besides, he said, the company had also honoured its social responsibility by providing various amenities in cocoa-growing areas in the region.
He added that PBC had teamed up with a Brazilian company to put up a factory to process shea-nuts in the Northern Region.
The Deputy Eastern Regional Manager of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Disease Control Unit of the COCOBOD, Mr William M. Wiafe, asked cocoa farmers to cut down diseased and aged trees for replanting to be done as that was the best way to increase yield, adding that the COCOBOD had taken measures to assist farmers in that respect.
An official of the Quality Control Division of COCOBOD, Mr Emmanuel Obeng, educated the farmers on the best way of harvesting cocoa pods and preparing the beans for the market.
In an address read on is behalf by the Deputy New Juaben Co-ordinating Director, Mr Majeed Ayariga, the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Baba Jamal Muhamed Ahmed, congratulated the PBC on its continued support for cocoa farmers, who, he said, had also contributed significantly to the growth of the economy.