The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, increase the compensation package for cocoa farmers in the country.
Cocoa farmers in the country were given a huge incentive early this month to produce more, following government’s decision to increase the producer price of cocoa by 62.74%.
This means government will now pay cocoa farmers GHS5,520 per ton of cocoa they produce for the 2014/2015 crop season, up from the from GHS3,392.
But the Minority in Parliment insists the over 60% increase is still not enough.
[contextly_sidebar id=”12hX4Sag79HWBCRTpiZwROV0wXpmQ9Gm”]Speaking on Eyewitness News, the Minority Spokesperson on Agriculture, Afriyie Akoto said “the propaganda about Ghana being the highest paying country[in relation to cocoa farmers] won’t cut down doubts by people who know the industry inside out.”
He said there are certain misgivings and injustice in the payment of the compensation paid to farmers.
This is not the first time government is being criticised for failing to increase the compensation package for farmers.
The Minority in Parliament, in September, called on the government to, pay Ghanaian cocoa farmers at least 70 per cent of the free-on-board (FOB) price of cocoa.
They argued that the steep depreciation of the cedi against the dollar, high cost of living and increase in cocoa prices on the world market were enough justification to increase the package for the farmers.
Mr. Afriyie Akoto further asked government to release bonuses owed the Cocoa farmers for the past three years.
He said those bonuses have remained unpaid though President Mahama promised to settle those outstanding arrears.
“We want to know when the bonuses will be paid..unfortunately the government has remained totally silent on it.”
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana