The Minority in Parliament says the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo must resign from office for allegedly running down COCOBOD and shortchanging farmers.

According to Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the cocoa sector has seen the lowest production in 15 years.

He added that COCOBOD has also recorded massive losses since 2017.

“Everything has gone bad at the Ghana COCOBOD. Last year, according to their own audit report, they declared a loss of 2.4 billion cedis in one year and the question is, what is going on?

“Clearly, I don’t think that Joseph Boahen Aidoo deserves to be in office. He has mismanaged the cocoa sector massively. He has been reckless, shortchanged the cocoa farmers and in the end, he has brought productivity down and so I don’t see how he should be in office. He should rather resign instead of insulting former president Mahama," he said.

Dr Ato Forson made this demand while addressing a gathering of farmers in the Ahafo region on Wednesday, September 13.

Read also: https://www.myjoyonline.com/akufo-addo-announces-ghs1308-as-price-per-bag-of-cocoa-making-it-highest-in-west-africa/

Government announced a significant hike in the price of cocoa by more than 60 percent hike for this year’s cocoa season, translating to GH¢1,308 per cocoa bag. 

Speaking at an event in Tepa on September 9, President Akufo-Addo acknowledged the challenges faced by cocoa farmers due to low international cocoa prices, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite these difficulties, he said that COCOBOD and the government have decided to raise the producer price of cocoa.

The President explained that cocoa prices had increased from GH¢7,600 per tonne in 2016 to GH¢12,800 per tonne in 2022, a substantial 68% increase.

He added that the government had further raised cocoa prices from GH¢12,800 per tonne to GH¢20,943 per tonne, equivalent to GH¢1,308 per bag for the new season, explaining also that this new price illustrates 70.5% of the Gross FoB price and is equal to $1,821 per tonne.

President Akufo-Addo also indicated that this is the highest price paid to cocoa farmers in West Africa in approximately 50 years.

But the Minority says that the increase is not enough.

According Dr Ato Forson, government should have increased the price of a bag of cocoa by no less than GH¢2,500. 

He contends that the Minority have realised that cocoa farmers are being taken advantage of by the government, therefore they will stand up for them.

Dr Ato Forson explained that farmers should have gotten at least ¢2,500 cedis per cocoa bag given the high price on the international market.

He further stated that President Akufo-Addo and his appointees have engaged in gross propaganda in announcing the farm gate prices for cocoa. 

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/we-wouldve-increased-cocoa-prices-to-%c2%a22-8k-not-akufo-addos-gh%c2%a21-3k-ato-forson/

According to the Ajumako Enyan Essiam MP, the price of the commodity has seen the biggest rise since 1977 and thus the government is ripping cocoa farmers off. 

“In fact, from 2013 to 2016 I supervised the increase in cocoa prices. The truth is one, and no one can dispute it. There are two things we use in determining the increase in cocoa prices. The first one is the strength of the Cedi and the price of cocoa on the international market. As a country, there are things we import and there are also things we export.”

“So when we import goods and the Cedi is not strong enough the prices will go up and in the same way when we export goods outside, we need to get profit.”

“As we speak now cocoa prices have seen the biggest increment since 1977 so it is your season to make a profit. If NDC were to be in government, we would have a bag of cocoa at GH¢2,500 and add a premium of GH¢300. So you would have received GH¢2,800 per bag,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Minority Spokesperson on Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Eric Opoku insists the NPP government cannot claim to have done anything extraordinary when the cocoa price on the international market has soared to a record high. 

He touted what he described as the NDC’s superior record in dealing with cocoa farmers.