Juaboso Member of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has said the cocoa sector of the Ghanaian economy is collapsing under the watch of the Akufo-Addo administration.
He stated that the 2020-21 crop year target was 800,000 metric tonnes but the country is now doing 400,000 metric tonnes.
The sector is also facing financial difficulties even though Parliament approved $1.3 billion syndicated loan.
Speaking on the New Day show with Johnnie Hughes on TV3 Thursday March 10, he said “I was born by a farmer, into a farming community.
“My constituency is the highest production of cocoa in the whole country. Juaboso constituency is predominantly cocoa farmers but unfortunately, the cocoa sector is dying.
“If you look at what is happening in the cocoa sector, for now in the 2020-2021 crop year, we targeted about 800,000 metric tonnes and now we are somewhere around 400,000 metric. The disheartening aspect is that they came to parliament to seek the approval for the syndicated loan around 1.3 billion dollars and we approved the money. We were targeting 800 metric tonnes, now we are somewhere around 400 yet we don’t have money to buy cocoa.
“We have asked several times where the money is, and we are not being given any tangible explanation. If you go to my constituency for example, as I speak to you, the farmers may have the cocoa beans but they may not have access to money. This is the reality because COCOBOD is owing a lot of the cocoa buying companies. So there are a lot of challenges in the cocoa sector as I speak to you now.”
