SOME Cocoa farmers in the farming communities of the Eastern Region are calling on the government to release funds to the Local Buying Companies to enable them to pay for their produce.
The farmers from the Upper West Akim, Lower West Akim, Birim Central and Ayensuano Districts respectively expressed their challenges and worries to journalists to threaten to cut down their cocoa farms for rubber plantation.
According to the farmers, the lack of money at cocoa buying companies is causing a lot of financial constraints to them as they seek to settle their wards for school.
Some of the farmers who spoke to DGN Online said, over the years, cocoa farmers in the country have been relying solely on the income from their cocoa produce in financing their children’s education.
Even though there is Free Senior High School, some amount of money is still needed for provisions and more importantly fees for those in the tertiary institutions.
However, the majority of Local Buying Companies in the Region have not been able to meet the demands of the farmers in terms of payment for the sale of cocoa produce.
They said life has been tough and difficult for them since Christmas, adding that “when they send their cocoa produce for money, then the purchasing clerks tell them there is no money’’.
One said ‘’Our problem is that the Purchasing Clerks are not getting money to pay us. I don’t even know how to get money for my son’s school fees. We are pleading with the government to intervene’’.
 – FROM Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua