Review the 21% cocoa price increment; it’s an insult to farmers – PNC to gov't

The National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mark Ewusi Arkoh has expressed displeasure about the upward adjustment of the farm gate price of cocoa.

For the 2022/23 cocoa season, the Ghana Cocoa Board will buy a 64kg bag of cocoa from Ghanaian farmers at a price of GHS800.

This translates to a 21% increase in the old price as announced by the Minister in charge of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto.

Reacting to the increment, PNC National Youth Organiser Mark Ewusi Arkoh has said it is an insult and disrespectful to the farmer.

According to him, a bag of cocoa should have been increased to at least GHS925.

“The difficulty in the economic system which is substantiated by the high cost of products and the continuous increase in petroleum products should have compelled the cocoa board to increase the price of cocoa for the 2022/2023 cocoa season to at least 40%. This would have brought up cocoa prices to a minimum of GHS925.00 instead of GHS 800.00,” the PNC National Youth organiser has said in a statement.

Mark Ewusi Arkoh who is also a cocoa farmer added, “We are not happy about this increase and we expect COCOBOD to as a matter of urgency review the price upward.

“This increment is a pittance compared to the hard toil of the Ghanaian Cocoa Farmer this season.”

He further called on the government to consider the plight of the cocoa farmer and review the new farm gate price of cocoa.

“Farmers find it difficult to manage the proceeds from this price. If cocoa farmers are not happy, productivity in this sector is also negatively affected.

“Many farmers are getting disappointed by the day. That being said, the government should quickly come in to review this price increment not only to save our third–best export commodity but to save our water bodies,” Mark Ewusi Arkoh indicated in the statement.