Reviving ailing cocoa sector will stop galamsey - Cocobod CEO

The revival of the ailing cocoa industry will help in the fight against illegal mining aka galamsey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Ghana Coco Board, Mr. Boahen Aidoo has asserted.

According to him, the dwindling fortunes of the sector, has contributed to the menace.

Some cocoa farmers he noted have lost hope and selling their farms to 'galamseyers' because the sector is no longer lucrative.

The current administration he assured will implement policies that will ensure that, farmers get money in their pockets to improve their standards of living.

The youth he opined will also venture into cocoa farming when they see improvement in the sector, and that forms part of our flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs.

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2016 lambasted the Mahama led administration for to sustain the growth of the cocoa industry after 8 years in power.

President Akufo-Addo during the 2016 campaign promised to build the legacy of former president Kufour and revive the ‘’ailing cocoa sector’’.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, with Ghana barely managing to produce 740,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in the 2014/2015 crop year, from a peak of 1 million metric tonnes in 2010/2011 which was achieved with programmes initiated by the Kufuor-led NPP administration, the cocoa sector, once a major foreign exchange earner for the country, is in dire need of rescue.

Akufo-Addo said his government will institute measures including the payment of significantly higher producer prices of cocoa above the levels which the NDC administration has provided to farmers in the last seven years; the reintroduction of bonuses scrapped by the NDC government; ensuring that wards of cocoa farmers gain access to COCOBOD scholarships; and the reintroduction and non-politicisation of the mass spraying exercise and the hi-tech programmes.