Cocoa is a key export commodity for Ghana
The National Association of Cocoa Farmers has warned that if authorities fail to address the challenges facing the cocoa sector, it could face extinction within five to ten years.
President of the Association, Stephenson Anane Boateng, said that the practice of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, in cocoa-growing communities has created serious challenges for them with increased water pollution, competition for land, especially from illegal miners, and reduced cocoa production.
Cocoa farmers, he bemoaned, are having challenges managing aging cocoa trees, weeds, pests, diseases, and declining yields, which have had a negative impact on their income and livelihoods.
The 2022/23 season, per available data released by the COCOBOD, reported that there was a loss of approximately 150,000 metric tonnes of cocoa due to smuggling and illegal gold mining activities. Additionally, the cocoa-swollen shoot virus ravaged around 500,000 hectares of cocoa farmlands.
He highlighted that the leaders in this country have failed to roll out initiatives to address the challenges, wondering why the cocoa farmers are not empowered to help resolve the crisis.
Although the government says it has rolled out initiatives to address the production challenges, including a farm rehabilitation program and collaborative initiatives with security agencies to combat smuggling, the Association stated that successive governments have failed to address their challenges.
“All the various sectors get the needed support and resources to enhance their work. However, the cocoa sector has been ignored. The situation has made cocoa farming unattractive, and our young people are not interested in the sector. They accuse us of selling our lands to illegal miners, but that is false.
"The cocoa sector is no longer thriving. My prediction is that in the next five years, we will have no cocoa sector to boast of. If we are lucky, it will last for the next ten years.
"The youth of today have all joined galamsey activities. When we raise these issues, the CEO of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, will rubbish them. We have a crisis at hand, and it is our collective duty as Ghanaians to talk and have the issues addressed.”
On the investment of Ghc942 million on farms, he shot it down, stressing that “COCOBOD keeps making losses. Read the Auditor General’s report and let me know if, indeed, they have made any investments in farms, as he claimed.”
He told host Kwabena Agyapong on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM that “Ghana now belongs to politicians, and so when you raise serious issues, they don’t address them.
"They come in to make money, and when they leave, they and their families enjoy themselves and create problems for us. But as Ghanaians, we have to rise and speak up and have them resolve these challenges.”
