MOTIVATING THE COCOA FARMER (OCT 12)

THE need to support cocoa farmers in the country has always been a top priority for any government.
This is because our cocoa industry is quite peculiar. It is dependent on individual holdings and family plantations, contrary to what pertains in other countries where there are large-scale cocoa plantations.
Therefore, the President’s call on the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to, within a week, announce a new producer price of cocoa is not only timely but also very refreshing indeed.
Contrary to forecasts of a downward turn in the country’s commodity exports as a result of the global economic downturn, we have seen an upward surge in cocoa prices, in particular, which currently stands at US$3,243 per metric tonne.
Again, Ghana’s cocoa is referred to as premium commodity because of its quality, hence it enjoys a much better price than the other cocoa exports on the international commodities market.
Given this healthy development, it is only proper to give back to cocoa farmers their fair share of the proceeds of their labour and toil.
Farming was once a lucrative venture for most of our rural dwellers and a source of wealth for people engaged in this business. However, over the years it is now a reverse of the former situation.
The Daily Graphic is aware of the many interventions by various governments over the years that have helped to enhance the country’s cocoa yield.
The mass spraying exercise, for instance, helped push our production from about 300,000 tonnes of annual exports to a record high of about 700,000 tonnes in recent times. Since then the country has been recording above 600,000 tonnes of cocoa exports yearly.
Indeed, the current government sees the need to continue this project started by its predecessor and has committed itself to the mass spraying exercise of cocoa throughout the country.
Only last month, the government signed a landmark cocoa syndicated loan amounting to US$1.2 billion for the 2009/10 crop season. Clearly, this shows the seriousness the country attaches to the country’s major foreign currency earner.
But, while the Daily Graphic commends the government and the authorities for these initiatives, it is important that the problems that have bedevilled the mass cocoa spraying exercise are dealt with quickly to ensure that the country’s projection for cocoa production this year is not undermined.
The government must show the same commitment to the programme as it has shown to other sectors of the economy to purge the mass cocoa spraying exercise of any perceived political interference.
Fact is that the contribution of the cocoa sector to the economy has far-reaching implications and our actions and inaction could either mar this sector or put it on the pedestal for rapid development.
So what is the best way forward? The Daily Graphic thinks we have no other option than to give the industry the support it deserves and everybody must get on board.