We'II storm Jubilee House with naked demo over plans to cut down cocoa trees - Farmers

Some aggrieved cocoa farmers in Western region have threatened a naked demonstration over plans by government to cut down all affected cocoa trees and replant them in the Western north of the region.

The governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast have launched a programme to cut down all cocoa trees affected with diseases and replant new ones. But the aggrieved farmers have staged a protest saying the planned cutting down of the affected trees will bring more harm than good.

They have also suggested there wouldn’t be proper compensation should the affected trees be destroyed. Spokesperson for the farmers, Mr Stephen Gyedu, told Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5 Fm that, they have not been properly briefed hence the need for government to rescind the decision, engage them properly before embarking on the exercise.

The move if carried would render several residents jobless, he lamented. An estimated 40 percent of Ghana’s unproductive cocoa trees are to be cut down.

The joint action between Ghana and its neigbouring country is a step up efforts at fighting the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) Control Programme at Pilla 34 and Manzanouan, both border towns in the Western North Coca Region.

The exercise would require the farmers to cut down their cocoa trees for new ones to be planted with modernized technology that is being introduced by government.