The Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association (GARDJA) has called on the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to fast-track the establishment of a welfare fund to support cocoa farmers.
The National President for GARDJA, Richmond Frimpong, made this call at the launch of a new cocoa advocacy initiative his outfit is spearheading. According to him, the welfare fund concept which is expected to among other things, cushion cocoa farmers against financial hardships is well enshrined in the COCOBOD law.
“The law is emphatic that ‘the board shall establish a fund to be known as Farmers Welfare Fund which will be funded with 10% of COCOBOD’s net profit every year to be used among others, to develop farming communities and provide welfare loans to farmers’.”
The cocoa farmers’ welfare fund is to provide affordable loans and financial support to farmers but Mr. Frimpong expressed regret as he indicated that the absence of the fund has made farmers poorer and denied the cocoa-growing communities the basic social amenities to improve their lives.
He also lamented about how easily cocoa farmers are spotted as preys due to poverty as loan sharks take advantage and give them credit with ridiculous interest rates which end up worsening their state.
He then appealed to the sector’s regulator, COCOBOD, to consider with urgency the need to set up the Farmers Welfare Fund in the interest of cocoa farmers and to lessen their suffering.
Mr. Frimpong again recommended that COCOBOD should consider setting up a cocoa farmers’ pension scheme. He noted that it is a shame that after 36 years of the promulgation of the Ghana Cocoa Board Law, the scheme has still not seen the light of day.
“For example, the Ghana Cocoa Board Law, 1984 (PNDC Law 81) Sections 26 and 27 state that ‘the Board shall within one year after coming into force of this law establish a contributory insurance scheme for cocoa, coffee and sheanut farmers within the framework of Social Security Scheme’.”
Ghana comes second to Ivory Coast as the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans with over 800,000 farming families accounting for the country’s globally celebrated quality cocoa produce.
Cocoa generates about $2 billion annually into the coffers of Ghana’s economy and a major contributor to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However, farmers remain poorer despite their immense contribution and they constantly have to grapple with low price negotiations at the farmgate for their produce, high labour cost, lack of access to farm input, cheating by cocoa buyers and climate change among others.
The President of the World Cocoa Farmers Organisation (WCFO), Moses Djan Asiedu, while speaking on the challenges of farmers recommended more training on good agricultural practice and intensive extension services to support sustainable cocoa production and improve farmers’ lot.
The launch of GARDJA’s cocoa advocacy initiative supported by SEND Ghana, a non-governmental organization, that works with cocoa farmers and cooperatives in addressing key issues affecting them, sought to draw the attention of news editors to the issues.
SEND Ghana Project Officer, Sandra Sankwah, emphasized the resolve for consistent advocacy on the challenges faced by cocoa farmers and went on to entreat the media to mainstream the cocoa sector in the national agenda.
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Roland Affail Monney lauded GARDJA for the cocoa advocacy initiative and further urged journalists to build capacity to specialize in reporting on the cocoa sector to bring depth and crucial attention in ensuring the sustainability of the sector.
