The minister (middle) with some of the board members
MINISTER OF Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, recently inaugurated an 11-member Board for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to ensure that cocoa is well marketed and farmers promptly paid.
The new board, chaired by Peter MacManu, includes the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo; Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison; Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu-Boahen; Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Yaw Frimpong Addo; Deputy Trade Minister, Herbert Krapah and a representative of farmers.
Dr Afriyie-Akoto indicated that the record cocoa production in the 2020/21 season, which was mainly through extensive agronomic practices and initiatives such as hand pollination and the rehabilitation of diseased cocoa trees, had brought hope to farmers.
Dr Akoto therefore tasked the new board to collaborate with the Secretariat of the Cote d’Ivoire Ghana Cocoa Initiative to press forward policies to improve on the incomes of cocoa farmers through the implementation of the living income differential.
The minister further urged the reconstituted board to continue to build on the successes chalked by the previous board to attain more.
Board chairman Peter Mac Manu, in a remark, thanked President Akufo-Addo for appointing members of the new board saying it will work harder to actualise the goals of the previous board.
He noted that “Our gallant cocoa farmers are happier today because they have improved incomes. However, more work is to be done to bring farmer incomes to a level where the youth of our country will find cocoa farming attractive. Our duty as a board is to provide policy direction that will lead to the attainment of this objective, and this duty we will discharge to the best of our abilities.”
“We will work to consolidate the gains made, strengthen and accelerate the implementation of ongoing policies, projects, programmes, and initiatives to achieve sustained improvement in yield to ensure sustainable incomes for our illustrious cocoa farmers,” he stated.
He added that “Our duty as a board is to provide policy direction that will lead to the attainment of this objective, and this duty we will discharge to the best of our abilities.”