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The Cocoa, Coffee and Sheanut Farmers Association has urged the government to take the necessary steps to make the promised input support to cocoa farmers readily available to shore up cocoa production.
While commending the government for the recent increment of the producer price from GH¢3,228 per 64kg to GH¢3,268 per 64kg for the 2025/2026 cocoa season, they said farm inputs and other agricultural support, if provided, would enable them to work hard to improve the sector.
They made the remarks during the association’s meeting in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region last Tuesday.
It was attended by members of the association from the 34 cocoa districts in the country.
The meeting, which was also attended by officials of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), provided an opportunity for members to evaluate operations in the cocoa sector and to put their concerns to the government for the necessary actions to be taken.
Speaking at the meeting, the National Chief Farmer, Alhaji Alhassan Bukari, said the government’s reintroduction of free fertiliser and other agro chemicals, free spraying exercise and other support, including extension services, were key towards the growth of the cocoa sector.
He stated that the free provision and distribution of the farm inputs to the cocoa farmers would reduce the financial burden on them, saying “government must make sure that the inputs reach the farmer at the right time”.
Further, he cautioned against the politicisation of issues and discussions within the cocoa sector, as such a situation tended to thwart the country’s efforts to remain competitive in cocoa production in Africa and the world at large.
“As a nation, we must depoliticise issues in the cocoa sector, work in unison and put in place the right interventions to better the fortunes in the sector for the ultimate benefit of the country,” Alhaji Bukari stressed.
The Western North Chief Farmer, Charles Owusu, and a board member of COCOBOD, welcomed the government’s decision to provide them with spraying machines for their farms.
Currently, he said they hired people to spray their farms for them at a fee and indicated that sometimes, they were disappointed by the sprayers due to the huge and undue workload pressure on them.
However, he said if they were provided with free spraying machines, coupled with the free supply of the agro chemicals, each farmer would be able to spray their farms as and when the need arose.
Further, he urged the government to step up the fight against illegal mining to protect the cocoa industry and stressed, “Some cocoa farmers find it very difficult to get clean water to spray their farms due to the pollution of the water bodies as a result of illegal mining”.
The Director of Public Affairs, COCOBOD, Jerome Sam, disclosed that more than two million litres of agrochemicals will be supplied nationwide to beneficiary cocoa farmers, saying “large quantities of fertiliser have been supplied to the farmers”.
He told the farmers that COCOBOD was going to do more towards increasing the cocoa yield, which would culminate in having more revenue going forward as compared to the previous year.
In a welcome address, the Ashanti Regional Chief Farmer, Samuel Yaw Akuoko, underscored the pivotal role of the sector in the growth of the economy and further called for sustainable support to develop the industry.
