Mr. George Teye Agamar, a cocoa farmer in the Western Region has complained bitterly about how the government hasn’t been of help to cocoa farmers in an interview with Rite FM.
He stated that cocoa farmers are not benefiting from their produce, so most of them cut their cocoa trees for different businesses. “If the government cannot buy the cocoa seeds, he should allow individuals who can. So they pay taxes to the government after”, he said.
He also spoke about the black pod disease which destroys their farms, causing most farmers to shun farming due to the price of the medicine used to fight this disease.as it costs them more than they make from the farm. He further said even though cocoa is being exported, farmers do not get much out of the it. But rather cocobod workers benefit immensely.
He continued that fertilizers that were distributed to them by the previous government has since not been given by the current government. He added that, for the past years the NPP government has refused to increase the prices of cocoa, as they thought things would be better under the current government but that isn’t the case.
Christiana Ntiamoah/ritefmonline.org
