Josephe Aidoo Boahene
The Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Women Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Central Union (BAWCOF) have appealed to COCOBOD, the government and traditional authorities to protect their business from the menace of illegal mining known as galamsey.
Chairperson of the association, Martha Addai, made the call during the 2024 edition of BAWCOF festival held in Goaso in the Ahafo Region.
Addressing the over 7,000 women from nine cocoa districts including Benchem, Techiman, Sunyani, Berekum, Nkrankwanta and others, madam Addai pleaded with Nananom in particular to help address the situation.
According to her, members have huge cocoa farms but the greatest challenge facing them is their farms are being affected by galamsey. “Galamsey is our biggest challenge so we plead with Nananom to help stop it else we are out of business,” she said.
Brong Ahafo regional administrator of COCOBOD, Michael P. K. Asumanu, on his part said the role of women in the cocoa sector cannot be over emphasised since they contribute significantly in the area of nursing, seedling, and drying among others.
Mr. Asumanu promised his outfit is going to provide the women with the necessary support for better output.
The Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahene Aidoo praised BAWCOF for reviving corporative societies in the cocoa sector noting corporative societies have long died down before 2017.
He noted that his tenure under President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration has introduced many policies and programmes that have resulted in the benefit of the sector and the women alike.
The Chief Executive Officer informed the women that COCOBOD has weaned itself from cocoa syndicated loans and has done zero borrowing.
“We have mobilised internal resources and this is what we are using to buy cocoa this year and even faster. We are able to pay the farmers faster because during the syndicated loans period the facility delayed,” he said.
He urged them to work hard by adopting all best agronomy practices like hand pollination, pruning and mass spraying exercise to increase yield per acre and make money.
He donated some funds to the women towards effective running of the organisation.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Goaso