Farmers threaten to sell cocoa in Cote d'Ivoire

Goaso (B/A) July 17, GNA - Cocoa farmers at Kramokrom ,in Asunafo North Municipality, have threatened to sell their produce to Cote D'Ivoire if the government did not implement an effective mass cocoa spraying programme in the area.

The farmers issued the threat when the MP for Asunafo North, Robert Sarfo Mensah, paid a visit to the area.

They maintained that since the spraying programme was started in May, this year, some farmers perceived to be supporters of the New Patriotic Party had been neglected.

"Others had their farms sprayed once but this is not effective as more is required," Ayambiri Samuel, who complained bitterly about the attitude of the spraying gangs said.

He said his farm had been rejected since the exercise was started and all efforts to get his farm sprayed had proved futile.

The farmer alleged the gang supervisor in the area was arrested last year for stealing more than 900 sachets of the chemicals meant for the exercise and the case was still with the police at Kasapin.

Ayambiri alleged the sale of the chemicals for other purposes had become rampant in the area and called on the government to institute an effective monitoring system that would ensure the success of the exercise.

"If the exercise continues in this way, farmers will have no other option but to send their produce for sale in La Cote D'Ivoire to be able to maintain their farms," he cautioned.

In another development, cocoa farmers at Fianko in the Municipality have appealed to the government to ensure the construction of the four kilometer feeder road to Dominase, which has been in a deplorable state for the past two years.

They told the GNA that the state of the road had compelled commuters to pay exorbitant fares charged by the drivers.

Mr. Kwasi Boateng, a spokesman of the farmers, said the conveyance of their produce to marketing centres, as well as sick people to health facilities had remained a difficult task.

"Farmers in the area are having it tough to travel in the area for the past two years and the conveyance of their produce and even the sick has been a Herculean task. This often result in the death of the sick who seek medical treatment at clinics at Kasapin and Mim," he said.

Mr. Boateng said as a result of this "unhappy situation" many farmers had left the area and abandoned their farms to escape untimely deaths and other health hazards.

He said the farmers appreciated the government's free mass spraying of their farms but the road needed to be put in good shape to avoid the defeat of its aim of increasing cocoa production in the country.