The Minority in Parliament has questioned the basis for which the government could only increase the cocoa prices per bag to GH¢1,308 and not to over GH¢2,800.
The caucus said the Akufo-Addo-government has only shortchanged Ghanaian cocoa farmers.
In a statement on the announcement made over the weekend, the Minority said the increment from GH¢800 to GH¢1,308 “is a total rip-off as cocoa farmers will continue to remain worse-off than they were seven years ago under the NDC/Mahama government”.
According to the Minority, the spot price of cocoa has surged to a record-high on the international market since 1977.
“One would have expected that with this historic increase in the international market price of cocoa, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government would have given our hard-working farmers their fair share,” the Minority observed.
“Sadly, this government has once again decided to shortchange the already-impoverished cocoa farmer.”
It said as per the free-on-board (FOB) price of cocoa on the international market, the farmers should be given between GH¢2,481.70 to GH¢2,824.35 per bag.
“This means that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is retaining a whopping GH¢1,516 while giving the poor cocoa farmer only GH¢1,308 per bag of cocoa.
“This reality further highlights the insensitivity and wickedness of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government which has dealt a raw deal to cocoa farmers since coming into office.”
But it said aside all that, inflation and other incidental expenses make the farmer worse off than under John Dramani Mahama.
“Even worse is the fact that, unlike the NDC/Mahama government, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government has canceled the payment of bonuses to cocoa farmers since it took office in 2017.
“Rather, government has been paying bonuses to staff of Cocobod at the time Cocobod is incurring huge losses.”
Making the announcement on Saturday, September 9, nonetheless, President Akufo-Addo said the new price is the highest in West Africa in the past 15 years.