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<\/p>\nPresident Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has celebrated the hundreds of thousands of cocoa farmers across the country responsible for the production of the crop that has for over a century, contributed immensely to the Ghanaian economy.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the work of cocoa farmers, the President noted that \u201cin their hundreds and hundreds of thousands, they worked to provide us the income with which we have built our nation\u2019s infrastructure and its most important educational institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The President made the remark at an event at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi, on Monday, to mark World Cocoa Day.<\/p>\n
The history of Ghana\u2019s cocoa, he said, cannot be complete without mention of the legendary Ghanaian, Tetteh Quarshie, through whose efforts the cocoa industry was established and nurtured.<\/p>\n
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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\u2019s cocoa farmers, an agitation that resulted eventually, in the establishment of the Cocoa Marketing Board.<\/p>\n
Despite supplying nearly half of the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
When world cocoa prices began to slump, most of the European firms, who purchased cocoa, formed a \u2018Pool\u2019 to agree on the price to be paid for cocoa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2018Pool\u2019 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 \u2018Pool\u2019, and refused to sell their cocoa to them,\u201d the President recounted.<\/p>\n
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He continued, \u201cDr. Danquah wrote an account of the boycott in a pamphlet titled \u2018The Liberty of the Subject\u2019. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his efforts, on 13th<\/sup> July, 1946, President Akufo-Addo indicated that \u201cthe 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 \u2013 The Light of the Farmers \u2013 for his role in seeking a better welfare for them.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis 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,\u201d President Akufo-Addo said.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has celebrated the hundreds of thousands of cocoa farmers across the country responsible for the production of the crop that has for over a century, contributed immensely to the Ghanaian economy. Acknowledging the work of cocoa farmers, the President noted that \u201cin their hundreds and hundreds of thousands, they worked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[228,3,229],"yoast_head":"\n