Acknowledging the work of cocoa farmers, the President noted that “in their hundreds and hundreds of thousands, they worked to provide us the income with which we have built our nation’s infrastructure and its most important educational institutions.”

The President made the remark at an event at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi, on Monday, to mark World Cocoa Day.

The history of Ghana’s cocoa, he said, cannot be complete without mention of the legendary Ghanaian, Tetteh Quarshie, through whose efforts the cocoa industry was established and nurtured.

The President added that, the celebration of World Cocoa Day should be a day where Ghanaians remember those great patriots who led the agitation in the Gold Coast, in seeking just and fair rewards for the country’s cocoa farmers, an agitation that resulted eventually, in the establishment of the Cocoa Marketing Board.

Despite supplying nearly half of the world’s cocoa tonnage by 1935, 60 years after the arrival of Tetteh Quarshie from Fernando Po, President Akufo-Addo noted that, as was the order of those times, cocoa farmers in the Gold Coast did not have any say in the price paid for their products.

When world cocoa prices began to slump, most of the European firms, who purchased cocoa, formed a ‘Pool’ to agree on the price to be paid for cocoa.

“This ‘Pool’ was viewed with great suspicion by the farmers, and with the co-operation of chiefs, and advice from persons like Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah and the other nationalists, the farmers decided to boycott the ‘Pool’, and refused to sell their cocoa to them,” the President recounted.

He continued, “Dr. Danquah wrote an account of the boycott in a pamphlet titled ‘The Liberty of the Subject’. It was largely the agitation led by Dr. Danquah which brought about the appointment of the Nowell Commission in 1937. Indeed, the recommendations of the Nowell Commission eventually led to the establishment of the Cocoa Marketing Board in 1947.”

For his efforts, on 13^th July, 1946, President Akufo-Addo indicated that “the farmers presented Dr. Danquah with a Commendatory and Acclamatory Address at Nsawam for showing them the way to prosperity. They referred to him as Akuafo Kanea – The Light of the Farmers – for his role in seeking a better welfare for them.”

Seven years after the establishment of the Cocoa Marketing Board, the Hall Council of University College of the Gold Coast, now University of Ghana, decided to name the newly constructed Hall of Residence, Akuafo Hall, in appreciation of the generous gesture of the farmers of the then Gold Coast who, through the Cocoa Marketing Board, contributed considerable sums of money for the establishment of Akuafo Hall as a Hall of Residence.

These farmers also contributed to other structural works for the University College of the Gold Coast in a project which was spearheaded by Dr. Danquah.

“This is part of the monumental contribution of cocoa farmers to the development of our country, and I think its appropriate that, on this occasion, we recollect these facts, in order to give credit to those to whom credit is due,” President Akufo-Addo said.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Akufo-Addo celebrates cocoa farmers on World Cocoa Day appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

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– Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor speaks to us exclusively about his Tottenham form (with Dotun Tenubi)

– We hear from Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah as he marks two years in charge (analysis with BBC’s Michael Oti-Adjei and Power FM’s Christopher Opoku)

–  Then we take an extensive look at Algeria’s preparations for Brazil 2014 (with Maher Mezahi). Plus the usual dose of ‘Africans Abroad’.

– And who is the winner of our Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini weekly quiz? You can win too! (click here)

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Presented by Gary Al-Smith and produced by Nathan Quao/Gary Al-Smith for Citi FM & supersport.com. Aired: April 11, 2014.

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