Dismiss NDC’s claims on new cocoa price — NPP

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said claims by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the government has shortchanged cocoa farmers with the new cocoa price is false and cannot be supported by actual events on the grounds. 

It said the President's announcement of the new producer price last Saturday had been greeted with widespread gratification by the entire cocoa community in Ghana.

“Indeed, all stakeholders in the cocoa industry, including farmers and the Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), have all expressed joy and satisfaction at the new price and have commended the government for staying true to its words. 

Political expediency

“Therefore, anyone claiming that the government has shortchanged cocoa farmers will be doing so only for political expediency but not based on facts,” the Director of Communications of the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah, said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.  

He said it was highly disingenuous on the part of the NDC to blame the current administration for a decline in cocoa production when the party knew that it contributed to the unfortunate situation, adding that the decision by the then management to suspend the treatment of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Viral Disease (CSSVD), resulting in many cocoa farms being attacked by the viral disease, was the root cause of Ghana's decline in production.

“The NDC government's decision to withdraw support to farmers in treating the CSSVD in the Western Region, has resulted in yields dropping significantly from 346,000 metric tonnes to below 140,000 metric tonnes.  

“Today, the management of COCOBOD, through the support of the government led by President Akufo-Addo, has been able to restore most of these farms, which were plagued by diseases under the NDC, through the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme.

These farms are expected to yield positive results in the next few years and help increase Ghana's production capacity.

Other social interventions are also currently being implemented for the benefit of cocoa farmers in the country,” he said.  

Mr Ahiagbah said it was also not an accurate claim by the NDC that COCOBOD started incurring losses only when the NPP assumed power in 2017 and that under the previous administration of the NDC, COCOBOD also made similar losses.

In 2016, before the NPP took overpower, COCOBOD, under the regime of the NDC led by President Mahama, caused significant losses of about $19 billion or more.

He said it was worth noting that under the NPP administration, Ghana recorded its highest-ever production of 1,045,500 in the 2020/21 Crop Season and that.

“It is, therefore, not accurate when the NDC claims that the NPP has a poor track record in cocoa production.

In fact, in their case in 2009, when the country recorded a million tonnes, it was due to the ripple effects of the interventions introduced by the then NPP administration under President John Agyekum Kufuor”.

Mr Ahiagbah said no other cocoa-producing country supported farmers with interventions such as the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, Mass Pruning, Hand Pollination, Mass Spraying, Fertiliser Subsidy Programme and Free Seedlings, as was the case in Ghana. 

Production

As such, he said cocoa farmers in all those other countries bear the total cost of production.

In the 2019/2020 Crop year, he said the government and Cote d'Ivoire agreed on a new cocoa pricing mechanism to safeguard the welfare of cocoa farmers and that the aim was to secure a sustainable cocoa price for farmers and create a buffer against shocks associated with unstable world market prices.

The Producer Price has gone up by 63.5 per cent from GH¢12,800 per metric tonne (GH¢800.00 per bag) to GH¢20,943 or $1,821 per metric tonne, equivalent to GH¢1,308 per bag.