President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday said Government would nurture the cocoa, coffee and sheanut industries and improve the lot of farmers to make them effective partners in building the Ghanaian economy.
He paid glowing tribute to cocoa, coffee and sheanut farmers across the nation for their contributions to the economy and assured them of Government’s support to increase productivity and for better living standards.
President Mills gave the assurance when a delegation of the executives of the Ghana Cocoa, Coffee and Sheanut Farmers Association paid a courtesy call on him at the Osu Castle in Accra. The visit is the second by the group since the Mills Administration assumed office. President Mills said Government had already increased the producer price of cocoa for at least three times since his Administration assumed power, and gave further thumbs up to farmers for their contributions and sacrifices that had sustained the economy over the years.
President Mills described the farmers as the foundation and backbone of the economy and registered the nation’s appreciation for their sacrifices. “A nation that does not recognize its heroes is not worth dying for,” he said.
President Mills assured the farmers that there some members of his Administration such as Mr Martey Newman, Chief of Staff and a former Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, and Dr Kwabena Dufuor, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana and currently Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who would bring their expertise to address issues bordering on the cocoa, coffee and sheanut industries.
The President said the farmers were an important part of the “Better Ghana” agenda and assured them that 2011, which he had declared as a Year of Action, would be “a year with a difference” as government intended to implement a number of programmes that would positively affect the lives of Ghanaians. “The year 2011 will be a year with a difference. Something new is coming,” President Mills said.
Alhaji Imoro Issifu Alhassan, Northern Regional Chief Farmer, acting as spokesperson for the group, commended the Mills Administration for the upward movement of the producer price of cocoa.