by Justice Lee Adoboe
ACCRA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ghana opened the 2017/2018 cocoa season on Friday with the decision to maintain the producer price at the 2016/2017 levels despite falling world prices.
Minister for Food and Agriculture Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, who announced the prices, explained that the decision to maintain the existing prices was to eliminate the harsh impact of falling global prices on farmers.
The price of cocoa is set at 7,600 Ghana cedis (about 1,730 U.S. dollars) a tonne, according to the minister.
Global prices for the commodity that is Ghana's largest foreign exchange earner have fallen to a 10-year low of below 1,900 dollars from a high of about 3,000 dollars at the beginning of the 2016/2017 season.
"The huge drop in the world price of cocoa has reduced revenue to such an extent that the Stabilization Fund is not enough to cushion farmers. Government has therefore sacrificed its share of Free On Board (FOB) price," the minister told representatives of farmer groups and purchasing companies at a press conference.
There have been expectations that Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire that account for 60 percent of total global cocoa output would slash their farm-gate prices amid falling global prices.
"This country is therefore losing around 1.1 billion U.S. dollars a year which is very significant for a small economy as ours and not only us, but our neighbor Cote d'Ivoire," the minister said.
He added that the decision not to reduce the price was to fulfill the promise they made while campaigning for elections.
"For 120 years, it is one single crop which has carried this country up to today. Cocoa will continue to be a major social intervention for Ghana, even if all the oil in the Atlantic Ocean was drilled. This is why we are prepared to protect the Ghana cocoa farmer in spite of the lowering cocoa prices, because we know their worth in the economy of Ghana," Afriyie-Akoto said.
Alhaji Alhassan Bukari, President of the Cocoa-Coffee-Shea-Nut Farmers Association (COCOSHEN), said farmers were glad that the government had maintained the price.
"We believe, as Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) supports us to increase our yield levels, we can earn more than we are doing now even if prices are not stable," he stated.
