New Edubiase (Ash)-Ghana, Sept. 15, GNA – Cocoa farmers in the Adansi South District have praised the government for such a substantial increase in the producer price of cocoa.
According to them, even though they were expecting a new price for the crop, they were overwhelmed with the quantum of increase announced by President Akufo-Addo, last week.
Reverend Dominic Oduro, Adansi South District Chief Cocoa Farmer, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, the farmers in the district, which is one of the largest cocoa producing areas in Ghana, were very happy with the new producer price.
He said he met cocoa farmers in the area after the announcement and all of them were very happy about the new price.
The government opened the 2023/24 cocoa season on Saturday September 09, 2023, and announced a new producer price of GH¢1,308 per bag of cocoa beans, as against the GH¢800 per bag bought last season.
The opening of the season in September instead of October every year, has also brought a lot of relief to farmers since they will be able to sell their cocoa beans on time to get money to pay for their wards school fees and other expenses.
Hitherto, the farmers had to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates to pay for their wards school fees until the season was opened in October.
Rev. Oduro said the massive increase in the price would motivate the youth to go into cocoa farming.
He called on the government to provide all the needed inputs such as fertilizers and chemicals, which were necessary for increased yield production of the beans, to farmers.
Rev. Oduro also urged chiefs and farmers to stop releasing cocoa lands for mining since that would affect the production of the beans in the country.
