President John Dramani Mahama announced that by the start of the next cocoa season, Ghanaian cocoa farmers will receive no less than 70 percent of the prevailing world market price for their produce, a statement from his office on Friday revealed.
He was addressing a grand durbar of chiefs and residents in Juaboso on Tuesday.
“Let me be clear: we will honour our promise to pay our hardworking farmers 70 per cent of the world market price of cocoa. The sweat of our cocoa farmers deserves dignity and a fair reward” President Mahama said.
According to Mahama the new pricing formula will be reflected in the producer price set by the Producer Price Review Committee ahead of the upcoming 2025/26 crop year.
He said construction works will commence this quarter on the Juaboso–Asawinso trunk road, along with 120 km of feeder roads that link farming communities to key buying centres and that five million hybrid seedlings will be distributed. There will also be scaled up fertiliser subsidies to increase yields and maintain Ghana’s position as the world’s leading cocoa producer.
Some 10,000 young people are being enrolled in the Cocoa Rehabilitation & Youth Entrepreneurship Programme to rejuvenate aged farms and create decent jobs in the sector, Mahama’s office revealed.
President Mahama who described cocoa as “the lifeblood of our rural economy” emphasised that sustaining farmers’ livelihoods is central to Ghana’s growth agenda.
WN/as/APA