I’ll retire from politics as cocoa farmer – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has revealed his plans after politics in the event of him successfully serving a two four-year term.

He intends going into full-time cocoa farming in the year 2020 when he retires from politics after his tenure as President of Ghana ends.

According to President Mahama, his motivation to enter into cocoa farming is due to the discovery of the rising demand for cocoa in Asia and the new price for cocoa producers as a bag of cocoa per the 64kg is now selling for GH¢345, representing an increase of 62.74 percent in the producer price of cocoa.

Speaking with members of the Cocoa Farmers Association last Wednesday at the Flagstaff House when they paid a courtesy call on him, President Mahama said the demand for cocoa all over the world is continuing to grow as the cocoa price has regained its value.

The President in his remarks stated that cocoa continues to be the mainstay of the country’s economy as every year close to US$3 billion is earned on cocoa alone, wondering why people are still excited about oil.

“…..cocoa continue to be the mainstay of this economy. Every year we earn something close to US$3 billion on cocoa alone and yet people are more excited about oil. Ghana has discovered oil so our lives are going to change? Cocoa still affects our lives more than oil. The contribution of oil to our national budget last year was only US$700 million. Cocoa brought US$3 billion into our economy. So cocoa is still the mainstay of our economy and we must put our money where our mouths are, and we must continue to put our money in cocoa farming so that it can continue to say sustain this economy”.

“So with this incentive of the price increase it must be a motivation to people to go back home and invest in cocoa farming. I, myself, am motivated to come and look for some land somewhere. I was telling the Chief Executive that with this price I will also come to Eastern Region or Western Region somewhere and find some land or Volta Region and also start my cocoa farm to prepare for my retirement after 2020. If I start now by 2020 it will be bearing fully and I can retire comfortably on it,” he revealed.

“With this new price it becomes an incentive for us to look after our farms better in order to increase the productivity and then also to even expand our farms so that we can produce more of the cocoa. I want us to see cocoa farming as a business and not as a way of life. It must be a business that we go into for profit so that we can use the profit to invest and make our lives better”, he emphasized.