Forum for Accountability and Development of Sefwi (FADOS) is calling on the government to end cheating on cocoa farmers and peg the price of a bag at GH₵517.00 to reflect the current price of the commodity on the international market.

They are also demanding from the government to sell a tonne of the country’s number one export commodity at GH₵8,278.00 considering the promise it made in giving 75% of the FOB price of cocoa to farmers during the 2008 and 2012 electioneering campaign.

“We arrived at the above quoted price by using the price per tonne of cocoa on the International cocoa Market that is $3,196.29 per tonne as at 30th September, 2015 and using 3.70 cedis  to a dollar as the exchange rate,” Harry Addo, Coordinator of FADOS said in a statement released in Accra.

Below is the full statement released by FADOS:

Saturday, 3rd October, 2015.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WE DESERVE BETTER MR. PRESIDENT

We, the executive and members of the FORUM FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SEFWI (FADOS) wish to send our gratitude to COCOBOD and the President for increasing the price of cocoa for the 2015/2016 cocoa season.

We appreciate the effort but to call a spade a spade, the current price increase as announced by the COCOBOD and the Government is a direct slap on the face of the poor farmers.

To be honest, a lot of factors determine the price of cocoa at any given season. These factors are; • the FOB price of the commodity (cocoa) on the international cocoa market • the exchange rate of our local currency and  • the state of the economy. All these factors, as we speak now are favorable to poor farmers.

The price of cocoa on the international market has been stable for some time with the strength of the dollar to the cedis sky-rocketing. In reality, the government makes tremendous profit annually from this sector of the economy.

After all the high profit what are we seeing? Our children keep dropping out of schools, no or poor community clinics, poor roads, no well treated drinking water and lastly refusal on the part of the COCOBOD and Government to give us reasonable Prices .

The old adage goes “to whom much is given much is expected from him”. Moreover, the current economic condition is a major factor to buttress our call for a review of the announced  2015/2016 cocoa price.

Echoing our demand, we wish to emphatically state clear that, the current and just announced price for the 2015/2016 cocoa season is unacceptable and a clear evidence of cheating and neglect by COCOBOD and the Government.

As the mouthpiece of the voiceless farmers, we are  pleading  to the Government to revisit it’s decision and fix the 2015/2016 cocoa price at 517 cedis per bag and 8,278 cedis per tonne (per their promise of giving  75% of the FOB price to  farmers during the 2008 and 2012 electioneering campaign)
. We arrived at the  above quoted price by using the price per tonne of cocoa on the International cocoa Market (i.e $3,196.29 per tonne as at 30th September, 2015) and using 3.70 cedis  to a dollar as the exchange rate.

Again, we want the government and COCOBOD to come out and explain to the good people of Ghana on how they arrived at their announced price . We also wish to appeal to the Government and COCOBOD to as a matter of urgency, pay the two years cocoa bonus arrears owed farmers to boost their moral.

THE WAY FORWARD TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY IN THE COCOA SECTOR

  1. Smuggling of Cocoa Beans to neighboring country (Cote D’Ivoir) – As we are already aware, the rate of smuggling cocoa to the neighboring country is as a result of the huge price difference between our country and other West African countries. The usage of task forces to stop cocoa smuggling on the borderline can’t solve the problem of smuggling.
    The only way out is to close the price differences between the two countries.
  2. Restoring of the Mass spraying exercise and supplying of enough cocoa insecticides and pesticides to farmers.
  3. Reduction or total removal of taxes on cocoa import products such as spraying machines, insecticides etc
  4. Provision of Working conditions for farmers

We hope and believe that, the Government and COCOBOD will heed to our humble plea.

Thank you.

Addo Harry
(Coordinator)
0242814121/0273099701/0503388779

Sir Ben
Assistant Secretary
0200336030

By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana