In a Press conference held on Monday, October 05, 2020 as part of its Leadership Series, the director of communications of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, issued a stern warning to the Ghanaian cocoa farmer, their dependents and all well-meaning Ghanaians. According to him, Mr Mahama “is the alternative and when it comes to the welfare and wellbeing of the Ghanaian farmer, John Mahama is dangerous. He does not know how to manage the economy. He does not know how to help the cocoa industry. He has no clue what the needs of the farmers are. To him cocoa is just an avenue for corruption. Leaving the industry to suffer.”
The Adentan MP emphasized that “cocoa farmers are far better off under the Akufo-Addo administration than during the time of John Mahama. The NPP Government has performed far better than the Mahama-led administration. The previous NDC government cannot credit itself with one single policy or intervention within the cocoa industry that was introduced by them. This is because, most of the interventions in the cocoa industry were first initiated and implemented by either the Kufuor government or this present Government. At best, what they could do was to maintain some of our policies”.
To substantiate his claims on the superiority of the Akufo-Addo led government to the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama’s administration on policies initiated to improve the Cocoa sector, the NPP’s communications director enumerated the following:
- COCOA REHABILITATION PROGRAMME
- MECHANISATION – DUAL PURPOSE PRUNER/SLASHER
- HAND POLLINATION
- THE INTRODUCTION OF EARLY MASS SPRAYING/CODAPEC SCHEDULE
- FREE SEEDLING DISTRIBUTION
- COCOA FARM IRRIGATION PROJECTS
- IMPROVED EXTENSION AGENT TO FARMER RATIO
- WOMEN AND YOUTH IN COCOA FARMING
- EDUCATION AND WELFARE
- COCOA PRICE
- Living Income Differential
- VALUE ADDITION/COCOA PROCESSING
- PENSION SCHEME/NATIONAL COCOA FARMER DATABSE
Mr Yaw Buaben Asamoa assessed the prospects of the Ghanaian Cocoa farmer under the NPP in the following words, “Farmer’s are far better-off today than yesterday and tomorrow looks even more promising. We are, however, constantly reminded of the immeasurable sacrifices and role our cocoa farmers play in the development of our country. Therefore, we shall continue to introduce and implement policies that will inure to the collective benefit of our farmers and to strengthen COCOBOD.”
