Gov't committed to paying 70% of f.o.b. price to Cocoa

Farmers

Accra, July 14, GNA - Ghana Cocoa Board on Monday restated government's commitment to pay cocoa farmers 70 per cent of the projected free-on-board (FOB) price to cocoa farmers by the 2004-2005 season.

Mr Kwame Sarpong, Chief Executive of COCOBOD, told participants at the International Workshop on the Utilization of Cocoa By-Products in Accra that all efforts were on course to arrive at that figure. He said government was working in tandem with the Cocoa Sector Development Strategy Document, which had been accepted by Ghana's development partners and had a key point of increasing the producer price to 70 per cent of FOB by the 2004 - 2005 cocoa season.

Mr Sarpong said before the beginning of the 2003 - 2004 season the Producer Price Review Committee made up of representatives from farmers' associations, government, COCOBOD, Universities and other stakeholders would meet to deliberate on a new producer price that would help to attain the target of 69 per cent of the projected FOB price. At present the government is paying just above 68 per cent of the FOB price.

Mr Sarpong said when the present government came into power the producer price of cocoa was 3,475,000 cedis per tonne or 217,187 cedis per bag and later increased it to 3,872,000 in May 2001. In this regard, farmers were paid a bonus of 12,000 cedis per bag between May and September 2001.

"Again the price was increased to 4,384,000 cedis per tonne, that is 274,000 cedis per bag in October 2001 as a result of the positive price developments on the world market."

The Chief Executive said the government on increasing the price to 8.5 million cedis, made provision for the payment of a bonus of 500,000 cedis per tonne to enable it to maintain the FOB target of 68 per cent. He said the current price reflected a significant improvement in the cocoa farmers' income.

"But this cannot serve as a justification for us to rest on our oars," adding; "any opportunity to add to the improved lot of the farmer must be exploited..."

He said when cocoa by-products were commercialised the farmers would begin to receive supplementary income from cocoa by-products or wastes that they have hitherto thrown away.

Mr Sarpong noted that only 37 per cent benefit was derived from a pod of cocoa with the remaining 63 per cent of cocoa products going to waste.

He said about 800,000 tonnes of cocoa by-product go to waste. Mr Sarpong noted that COCOBOD had not only followed the development of the Cocoa-By Products Research with great interest, "but has been fully involved in the provision of infrastructure and other inputs to the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) for the Pilot Plants Project from its inception in 1992.

The Project, which cost 1.4 million dollars, is in consonance with the Common Fund for Commodities and the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).

ICCO is the supervisory body while the CRIG is the project-executing agency.

The Project started with the production of cocoa gin, cocoa pectin, animal feed and soft soap, known locally as alata samina from cocoa pod ash.

Mr Sarpong said at present 12 products had been derived by CRIG under the Pilot Plants Project Programme ready for commercialisation. They are cocoa butter toilet soap, cocoa butter body pomade, cocoa jam and marmalade, cocoa jelly, cocoa gin and cocoa brandy. The rest are cocoa vinegar, cocoa wine, animal feed, soft soap, liquid soap and cocoa soft drink.

Mr Hope Sona Ebai, Secretary-General of the Cocoa Producers' Alliance (COPA) expressed the Alliances' gratitude to CRIG and the government, ICCO and CFC for financing and the project.

He called for more funding for continuing research towards more alternative uses of cocoa and its by-products to make farmers to derive maximum benefit from their activities.

Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister, who chaired the function, said it was sad that 60 years after the introduction of cocoa into Ghana, the confectionaries industry was at its infancy. He condemned the practice of substituting other substances for cocoa in the confectionary industry, saying the fight by some European Union companies must be supported to make the use of cocoa and cocoa by-products meaningful.

He also urged huge multinationals such as Nestle, Unilever and Cadbury to take up the commercialisation of some of the research findings by CRIG and put them on the international market.