More Bonus For Cocoa Farmers

PRESIDENT JOHN Agyekum Kufuor has announced that government has decided to pay three bonuses to cocoa farmers this year and as well increase producer price of cocoa as a sign of appreciation to cocoa farmers in the country.

According to him the hard work, dedication, commitment and perseverance being exhibited by cocoa farmers must be appreciated by the government, hence the need to give the farmers their due share of the national cake.

President Kufuor announced these when he cut the sod for the launch of Bitumen surfacing of 15km Per District Road Project at Agona Swedru in the Agona West Municipality of the Central Region on Friday.

He mentioned that a special loan scheme had been set up for cocoa farmers under the housing programme where they would be given houses to pay for over a period of ten years.

President Kufuor as well announced the expansion of similar facilities for farmers in the sheanut production areas of Ghana.

The government, he indicated, had also decided to put all roads in the cocoa growing areas in the country in good shape to enhance smooth transportation of goods.

The President revealed that since the NPP Government assumed office in 2001, about 10,000km of road network had been added to the 32,500km that was in existence.

Additionally, the government is to tar 15km stretch of road in all the 160 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMD/As) in the country.

On the forthcoming general elections, President Kufuor called on the electorate to vote wisely taking into consideration the crop of persons who would steer the affairs of the country.

He remarked that the NPP government had performed brilliantly and that the evidence is there for every objective Ghanaian to see.

“As I'm leaving the political scene as the President of the land, Ghanaians should not forget that the party that selected me in 2000 as a presidential candidate has also selected Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo to continue the good works that the NPP has started,” he commented.

He thus appealed to the electorate to give Nana Addo the mandate to enable him continue with the good governance the nation is enjoying.

"It will interest Ghanaians to know that NPP government has been adjudged as the best performed government on the Africa Continent due to the good legacy they want to leave for Ghanaians.”

The Minister for Transportation, Dr. Richard Anane said the 15km per district project in all the 160 MMD/As in the country involves the upgrading of 15km of gravel-surfaced roads to bitumen surface.

Dr. Anane indicated that there has been the provision of lay-bys in towns and villages along the road to facilitate parking off the road as well as the provision of speed calming devices in appropriate places.

“I wish to indicate that a total of six hundred kilometers of gravel roads would be upgraded to bitumen surface under the Ghana Cocoa Board component of the programme by September 2009.

“In addition, upgrading of gravel roads in the MMD/As will be implemented under the 'Feeder Road Improvement Project' which is funded by the European Union.

The nation, no doubt, stands to derive immense benefits from the successful implementation of this laudable programme."

The deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. Gyan-Baffuor disclosed that the NPP government has always deemed agriculture an effective tool for alleviating poverty in Ghana and has identified cocoa as the major driver of growth and the cash-cow of the economy.

Prof Baffour stated that government attaches great importance to the agricultural sector, hence the need to ensure that all the necessary assistance is given to the cocoa sector as well as to initiate policies and programmes that would benefit the sector.

He hinted that over the past seven years cocoa production has increased to a record level of over 700,000 metric tons from a low level of production of 389,772 in 2001, while producer prices have also reached record levels, increasing from GH¢347.5 per ton in 2000/2001 to GH¢1,200 in the current cocoa season.

Present were the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique; the CEO of Ghana Cocoa Board, Mr. Isaac Osei; Members of Parliament as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region.

President Kufour earlier donated five computers and one printer to seven schools in the cocoa growing areas in the region.

From Sarah Afful, Agona Nyakrom