Cocoa Management System innovation will ensure smooth implementation of cocoa farmers pension scheme - Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the launch of the Cocoa Management System will play a significant role in the implementation and efficient management of the soon to be launched pension scheme for cocoa farmers by the government.

The Cocoa Management System, which was launched by the Vice President on Friday, October 23, will build a database of all cocoa farmers and cocoa-related programs, activities and statistics. It will also play a significant role in the efficient implementation of the soon to be launched cocoa farmers pension scheme.

Speaking at the launch, Vice President Bawumia said the technological innovation is a game-changer, which will transform the cocoa sector in the country, and be immensely beneficial to cocoa farmers as the government is set to launch the cocoa farmers pension scheme, which will require data of all farmers.

Dr Bawumia also stated that Cocoa Management System is in line with the government’s agenda to digitize the operations of many government institutions.

"The Cocoa Management System is not only in line with the government’s digital transformation agenda but will also bring enormous benefits to stakeholders of the cocoa industry, especially farmers," Dr Bawumia said.

"At the click of a button, the CMS system can show all the needed information in real-time. This is a seamless technology platform that will help COCOBOD manage the cocoa industry."

"For the first time, every program, policy intervention, plan and projection and infrastructural development needed in cocoa-growing areas will be based on verified data. Certainly no more cocoa roads in Accra. The CMS will reject such intervention."

"Imagine what this platform will do in compiling a census of farmers once we start the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme. We will know the cocoa farmers, their census, their demographics and their output and how to help build up their pension scheme."

The Vice President indicated further that, the technological innovation in the cocoa sector, coupled with other digitization of other government agencies, demonstrate government's quest to digitise the Ghanaian economy and bring more efficiency and transparency in both the private and public sectors.

"I wish to emphasize that the government is committed to building a cash-lite economy through an inclusive digital payments ecosystem."

"Our overarching objectives in this digitization agenda are to improve both economic and public sector governance, improve transparency and accountability, improve domestic revenue mobilization and curb corruption," Dr Bawumia said.

He stressed that government intends to quickly transform the Ghanaian society by leveraging on technological innovations as a means to develop a civic database of all Ghanaians because it is impossible to govern a modern society "when we don’t know who are the citizens."

"We need to formalize the economy and move the huge informal sector to the formal sector to improve the management of the economy."

Vice President Bawumia congratulated COCOBOD for the innovation and urged other government agencies to take a cue from COCOBOD and strive to digitize their operations in line with the government’s vision.