File photo of a cocoa farm
Ghanaian cocoa farmer in the Adansi Akrofuom district located in the Ashanti Region, Kwasi Mensah, has shared that his children prefer he sells his cocoa farm due to the lack of Government support.
According to him, his children find the profession unattractive and have threatened to sell the farm after his death.
He made this known in an interview with Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show.
“I have five kids. Some are still schooling and some have also graduated. None of my children are engaged in cocoa farming. The children say cocoa farming is not attractive so even if you speak to them about growing cocoa, they are still not convinced.
One of my children has said that after my death, he will sell the farm because of the unfair treatment suffered by cocoa farmers under the Government. According to him, I am not receiving what I deserve as a cocoa farmer”, he narrated.
The cocoa sector faces a number of challenges. A large portion of cocoa farmers are affected by poverty, and child labour remains a prevailing issue. In addition, cocoa is often produced at the expense of the environment.
Most of the cocoa farming families live in extreme poverty. In Ghana for instance, it is estimated that the income gap is about 50% of the living income benchmark value with cocoa production contributing to about two-thirds of farmers’ income.
Cocoa production is also threatened by ageing plantations, poor farm management, soil degradation and increasing pest and disease pressure. To increase production and meet demand, cocoa producers often rely on the clearing of additional forest land, which have now suffered from galamsey.
