Joseph Boahen (INSET), COCOBODCEO addressing some senior journalists in K’si
Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has pushed forward the cocoa crop season from October to September, starting this year to improve cocoa quality and enhance the livelihood of farmers.
COCOBOD Chief Executive, Joseph Boahen, said the change in date is to prevent farmers from hoarding their cocoa crops in anticipation of a new price.
According to the COCOBOD CEO, the continuous hoarding of the cocoa beans adversely affects the quality of the cocoa on the international market.
“Nowadays, we have not been receiving cocoa crops as it used to be in the past years because people are certainly expecting a new cocoa price so they are keeping them,” he lamented.
Joseph Boahen said schools usually open in September so opening the cocoa season to October make it difficult for farmers to get money to send their wards to school.
“The farmers usually borrow money with interest in September in order to support their children’s education and wait till October to get money to pay back,” he said.
“We want to change that narrative, hence the change of the cocoa crop season from October to September this year to help cocoa farmers”, Joseph Boahen pointed out.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi