The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has indicated that, the inability of the institution to pay cocoa farmers their desired price for their farm produce is not enough justification for some farmers to enable and facilitate the smuggling of cocoa beans to neighboring countries.
In a one-on-one interview with Daniel Oduro on the Lowdown show on GhanaWeb TV, Fiifi Boafo, Head of Public Affairs, acknowledged that, the inability of COCOBOD to meet the price demand of cocoa farmers for their beans is a significant factor for which some farmers smuggle cocoa beans to neighboring countries, however, the reason is not defensible since farmers and the state lose a lot of revenue when cocoa is smuggled.
The Public Relations Officer questioned farmers on where they expected government to generate revenue from to meet their projected price if they encourage cocoa smuggling.
“If we spend resources to buy facilities and finance all the other initiatives to increase productivity and they are smuggled out of the country, where do you expect us to get money to pay for all these services and match up the price?” Fiifi Boafo asked.
Fiifi Boafo added that, relatively, Ghanaian cocoa farmers although are paid less for their produce are more privileged than farmers in Cote D’Ivoire. He explained that, farmers in Cote D’Ivoire are not provided fertilizers and other incentives by the government but in addition to the competitive price paid for cocoa, Ghanaian farmers are provided with fertilizers.
He explained, “We buy fertilizers, insecticides and provide other incentives for farmers to enable them carry on with their activities, but farmers in Cote D’ Ivoire do not enjoy such privileges, they are paid and they must cater for such needs by themselves.”
