New cocoa advocacy initiative
The Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association (GARDJA) is to roll out a new cocoa advocacy initiative aimed at helping create a sustainable cocoa value chain in Ghana.
In collaboration with various cocoa farmer-based organisations and other stakeholders, it will draw attention to pertinent issues militating against the development of the cocoa sector, including poor farm gate pricing, challenges with accessing inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides, negative impact of climate change on cocoa production, child labour on farms, among others.
A media statement issued in Accra on Monday, August 24, 2020 by GARDJA said the full potential of the cocoa crop was not being harnessed.
“There is, therefore, the need for the government, non-governmental organisations, as well as other actors in the sector to up their game, introduce better policies in the industry, implement them and inject more resources to help keep the sector afloat.
“The initiative will involve a series of media campaigns, as well as capacity-building initiatives for the media and for cocoa producers between now and the end of the year,” it stated.
According to the statement, the initiative would ensure that the public had access to more and better investigative reports on cocoa sustainability issues.
Also, it would ensure that media houses helped create the required platform for an informed public debate on cocoa sustainability issues in Ghana.
Cocoa plays an important role in Ghana’s development. Proceeds from the crop have been used to shore up the Ghanaian economy, pay for road infrastructure, pay for education, pay for the construction of health facilities, among others to help with the development of the country.
More should be done for the benefit of farmers who grow this golden crop. For example, Section 36 of the Ghana COCOBOD Law 1984 states that, “The board shall within one year after the coming into force of this law establish a contributory insurance scheme for cocoa, coffee and shea nuts farmers within the framework of the Social Security Scheme.” It’s sad to note that 36 years on, this directive remains on paper without being implemented.
Section 27 of that law also says “the board shall establish a fund to be known as Farmers' Welfare Fund which will be funded with 10 per cent of COCOBOD’s net profit every year to be used to, among others, develop farming communities and provide welfare loans to farmers”. What is COCOBOD waiting for before it sets up this fund? These are challenges needing attention and this initiative will give them that attention. The initiative is supported by SEND Ghana.